Which to use
“pick” and “pricks” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #881
- “pick” frequency rank
- #27,975
- “pricks” frequency rank
- 28856
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pick | pricks |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A tool used for digging; a pickaxe. | plural of prick |
Where the eye mixes pick and pricks
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: pick vs pricks
A purely visual mix-up. pick (/pɪk/) and pricks (/pɹɪks/) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 28856, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
pick is recorded at frequency rank #881, classified as anoun, pronounced /pɪk/. pricks is at rank #27,975, tagged as anoun, pronounced /pɹɪks/.
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 28856, this pair ranks #367,740 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of pick vs pricks
Shared letters: cikp. Private to "pick": -. Private to "pricks": rs.
"pick" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "pricks" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "pick" and "pricks" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "pick" vs "pricks" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "pick" and "pricks" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "pick" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "pricks" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #367,740 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pick" and "pricks" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pricks vs primus". 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 #367,740 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.