pewsvspicsWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#38,096
“pews” frequency rank
#5,531
“pics” frequency rank
43627
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pews pics
Definition plural of pew plural of pic

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set pews and pics apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
pews
4 ch
pics

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. pews (/pjuːz/) and pics (/pɪks/) 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 43627, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pews is recorded at frequency rank #38,096, classified as anoun, pronounced /pjuːz/. pics is at rank #5,531, tagged as anoun, pronounced /pɪks/.

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 43627, this pair ranks #238,170 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of pews vs pics

Shared letters: ps. Private to "pews": ew. Private to "pics": ci.

"pews" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "pics" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pewsepws · pesw · pewss · pewws · ppews · pwes
  • picsipcs · pcis · piccs · picss · pisc · ppics

Frequency comparison

pews#38,096
pics#5,531

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "pews" and "pics" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/pjuːz/ versus /pɪks/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "pews" or "pics"?
"pics" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,531 in our English list, against #38,096 for "pews". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering pews vs pics

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 “pews” 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