Which to use
“Picard” is an adjective and “picked” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #23,063
- “Picard” frequency rank
- #1,956
- “picked” frequency rank
- 25019
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Picard | picked |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Of, from or relating to Picardy, a cultural region part of the administrative region of Hauts-de-France, France. | simple past and past participle of pick |
Where the eye mixes Picard and picked
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: Picard vs picked
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Picard is /ˈpɪkɑːrd/ while picked is /pɪkt/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 25019, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Picard is recorded at frequency rank #23,063, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈpɪkɑːrd/. picked is at rank #1,956, tagged as averb, pronounced /pɪkt/.
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 25019, this pair ranks #397,549 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of Picard vs picked
Shared letters: cdip. Private to "Picard": ar. Private to "picked": ek.
"Picard" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC · "picked" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "Picard" for "picked" ever safe?
Which is more common, "Picard" or "picked"?
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 "Picard" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "picked" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #397,549 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Picard" and "picked" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Picard vs placard". 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 #397,549 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.