Which to use
“picked” is a verb and “pinched” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #1,956
- “picked” frequency rank
- #24,274
- “pinched” frequency rank
- 26230
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | picked | pinched |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of pick | Very thin, as if drawn together. |
Letter map: picked vs pinched
Shared letters muted; letters that set picked and pinched apart highlighted. Shared run: 5.
Role in the sentence - picked and pinched
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: picked is averb and pinchedanadjective. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 26230, 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/. pinched is at rank #24,274, tagged as anadj.
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 26230, this pair ranks #388,248 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of picked vs pinched
Shared letters: cdeip. Private to "picked": k. Private to "pinched": hn.
"picked" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "pinched" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "picked" for "pinched" ever safe?
Which is more common, "picked" or "pinched"?
After this comparison
Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "picked" and "pinched".
- Full dictionary entry for "picked" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "pinched" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #388,248 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "picked" and "pinched" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "parched vs pinched". 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 #388,248 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.