pityvspixWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“pity” and “pix” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#7,373
“pity” frequency rank
#39,483
“pix” frequency rank
46856
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pity pix
Definition A feeling of sympathy at the misfortune or suffering of someone or something. plural of pic (“picture”)

Where the eye mixes pity and pix

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
pity
3 ch
pix

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. pity (/ˈpɪt.i/) and pix (/pɪks/) 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 46856, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pity is recorded at frequency rank #7,373, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈpɪt.i/. pix is at rank #39,483, tagged as anoun, pronounced /pɪks/.

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 46856, this pair ranks #207,813 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of pity vs pix

Shared letters: ip. Private to "pity": ty. Private to "pix": x.

"pity" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "pix" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pityipty · pitty · pityy · piyt · ppity · ptiy

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "pity" and "pix" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈpɪt.i/ versus /pɪks/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "pity" or "pix"?
"pity" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,373 in our English list, against #39,483 for "pix". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

You've compared "pity" and "pix". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "pity" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "pix" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #207,813 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pity" and "pix" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pix vs PPA". 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

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list