Which to use
“pick” and “piece” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #881
- “pick” frequency rank
- #975
- “piece” frequency rank
- 1856
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pick | piece |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A tool used for digging; a pickaxe. | A part of a larger whole, usually in such a form that it is able to be separated from other parts. |
Where the eye mixes pick and piece
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
A purely visual mix-up. pick (/pɪk/) and piece (/piːs/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 1856, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
pick is recorded at frequency rank #881, classified as anoun, pronounced /pɪk/. 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 1856, this pair ranks #526,466 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of pick vs piece
Shared letters: cip. Private to "pick": k. Private to "piece": e.
"pick" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "piece" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV