peasyvspeskyWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“peasy” and “pesky” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#48,405
“peasy” frequency rank
#25,528
“pesky” frequency rank
73933
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature peasy pesky
Definition Resembling or characteristic of peas. Annoying, troublesome, irritating (usually of an animal or child).

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set peasy and pesky apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
peasy
5 ch
pesky

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

peasy and pesky are indexed as a confusable English pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 73933, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

peasy is recorded at frequency rank #48,405, classified as anadj. pesky is at rank #25,528, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈpɛski/.

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 73933, this pair ranks #37,964 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of peasy vs pesky

Shared letters: epsy. Private to "peasy": a. Private to "pesky": k.

"peasy" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV  ·  "pesky" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • peasyepasy · paesy · peassy · peasyy · peays · pesay · ppeasy
  • peskyepsky · peksy · peskky · peskyy · pessky · pesyk · ppesky · pseky

Frequency comparison

peasy#48,405
pesky#25,528

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "peasy" and "pesky" be used interchangeably?
No. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Which is more common, "peasy" or "pesky"?
"pesky" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #25,528 in our English list, against #48,405 for "peasy". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering peasy vs pesky

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “peasy” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list