Which to use
“pared” and “poked” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #39,472
- “pared” frequency rank
- #21,618
- “poked” frequency rank
- 61090
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pared | poked |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of pare | simple past and past participle of poke |
Where the eye mixes pared and poked
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. pared and poked follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between pared and poked
A purely visual mix-up. pared (/pɛəd/) and poked (/pəʊkt/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 61090, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
pared is recorded at frequency rank #39,472, classified as averb, pronounced /pɛəd/. poked is at rank #21,618, tagged as averb, pronounced /pəʊkt/.
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 61090, this pair ranks #96,337 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of pared vs poked
Shared letters: dep. Private to "pared": ar. Private to "poked": ko.
"pared" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "poked" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "pared" and "poked" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "pared" vs "poked" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "pared" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "poked" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #96,337 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pared" and "poked" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pared vs plied". 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 #96,337 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.