Which to use
“picked” is a verb and “pike” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #1,956
- “picked” frequency rank
- #11,580
- “pike” frequency rank
- 13536
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | picked | pike |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of pick | A very long spear used two-handed by infantry soldiers for thrusting (not throwing), both for attacks on enemy foot soldiers and as a countermeasure against cavalry assaults. |
Where the eye mixes picked and pike
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between picked and pike
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: picked is /pɪkt/ while pike is /paɪk/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13536, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
picked is recorded at frequency rank #1,956, classified as averb, pronounced /pɪkt/. pike is at rank #11,580, tagged as anoun, pronounced /paɪk/.
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 13536, this pair ranks #475,232 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of picked vs pike
Shared letters: eikp. Private to "picked": cd. Private to "pike": -.
"picked" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "pike" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "picked" for "pike" ever safe?
Which is more common, "picked" or "pike"?
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 "picked" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "pike" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #475,232 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "picked" and "pike" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pike vs Pyke". 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 #475,232 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.