Which to use
“paddock” and “padlock” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #25,161
- “paddock” frequency rank
- #42,806
- “padlock” frequency rank
- 67967
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | paddock | padlock |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A small enclosure or field of grassland, especially one used to exercise or graze horses or other animals. | A detachable lock that can be used to secure something by means of a sliding or hinged shackle |
Where the eye mixes paddock and padlock
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between paddock and padlock
A purely visual mix-up. paddock (/ˈpædək/) and padlock (/ˈpæ̞dˌlɒk/) 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 a single letter - d in “paddock” becomes l in “padlock”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 67967, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
paddock is recorded at frequency rank #25,161, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈpædək/. padlock is at rank #42,806, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈpæ̞dˌlɒk/.
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 67967, this pair ranks #60,997 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of paddock vs padlock
Shared letters: acdkop. Private to "paddock": -. Private to "padlock": l.
"paddock" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC · "padlock" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "paddock" and "padlock" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "paddock" vs "padlock" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "paddock" and "padlock" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "paddock" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "padlock" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #60,997 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "paddock" and "padlock" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "padlock vs pollock". 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 #60,997 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.