Which to use
“panicked” is a verb and “panicky” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #17,201
- “panicked” frequency rank
- #45,568
- “panicky” frequency rank
- 62769
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | panicked | panicky |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of panic | In a state of panic. |
Letter map: panicked vs panicky
Shared letters muted; letters that set panicked and panicky apart highlighted. Shared run: 6.
Part-of-speech tell for panicked / panicky
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: panicked is averb and panickyanadjective. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 62769, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
panicked is recorded at frequency rank #17,201, classified as averb. panicky is at rank #45,568, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈpænɪki/.
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 62769, this pair ranks #86,614 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of panicked vs panicky
Shared letters: aciknp. Private to "panicked": de. Private to "panicky": y.
"panicked" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC · "panicky" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "panicked" and "panicky" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary English text, does "panicked" or "panicky" show up more?
After this comparison
Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "panicked" and "panicky".
- Full dictionary entry for "panicked" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "panicky" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #86,614 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "panicked" and "panicky" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "panicky vs picky". 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 #86,614 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.