Which to use
“packed” and “poached” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #4,257
- “packed” frequency rank
- #29,421
- “poached” frequency rank
- 33678
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | packed | poached |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of pack | simple past and past participle of poach |
Where the eye mixes packed and poached
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between packed and poached
A purely visual mix-up. packed (/pækt/) and poached (/pəʊtʃt/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 33678, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
packed is recorded at frequency rank #4,257, classified as averb, pronounced /pækt/. poached is at rank #29,421, tagged as averb, pronounced /pəʊtʃt/.
Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.
With a confusion score of 33678, this pair ranks #327,327 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of packed vs poached
Shared letters: acdep. Private to "packed": k. Private to "poached": ho.
"packed" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "poached" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "packed" and "poached" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "packed" vs "poached" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "packed" and "poached" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "packed" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "poached" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #327,327 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "packed" and "poached" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "poached vs poacher". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #327,327 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.