Which to use
“pocket” is a noun and “poked” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #3,123
- “pocket” frequency rank
- #21,618
- “poked” frequency rank
- 24741
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | poked | |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A bag stitched to an item of clothing, used for carrying small items. | simple past and past participle of poke |
Where the eye mixes pocket and poked
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between pocket and poked
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: pocket is /ˈpɒk.ɪt/ while poked is /pəʊkt/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 24741, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
pocket is recorded at frequency rank #3,123, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈpɒk.ɪt/. poked is at rank #21,618, tagged as averb, pronounced /pəʊkt/.
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 24741, this pair ranks #399,682 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of pocket vs poked
Shared letters: ekop. Private to "pocket": ct. Private to "poked": d.
"pocket" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "poked" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "pocket" and "poked" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "pocket" vs "poked" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "pocket" and "poked" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "pocket" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "poked" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #399,682 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pocket" and "poked" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "plied vs poked". 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 #399,682 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.