pecvspieceWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#47,251
“pec” frequency rank
#975
“piece” frequency rank
48226
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pec piece
Definition The pectoralis major muscle. A part of a larger whole, usually in such a form that it is able to be separated from other parts.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set pec and piece apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

3 ch
pec
5 ch
piece

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

pec and piece 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 differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48226, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pec is recorded at frequency rank #47,251, classified as anoun. piece is at rank #975, tagged as anoun, pronounced /piːs/.

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 48226, this pair ranks #195,072 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of pec vs piece

Shared letters: cep. Private to "pec": -. Private to "piece": i.

"pec" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "piece" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pieceipece · peice · picee · piecce · pieec · ppiece

Frequency comparison

pec#47,251
piece#975

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "pec" and "piece" be used interchangeably?
No. They differ by 2 letter(s) in length, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Which is more common, "pec" or "piece"?
"piece" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #975 in our English list, against #47,251 for "pec". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering pec vs piece

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 “pec” 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 FrequencyWords open word-frequency list