pokevsPykeWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: poke is a verb, Pyke is a name, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“poke” is a verb and “Pyke” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#13,037
“poke” frequency rank
#48,989
“Pyke” frequency rank
62026
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature poke Pyke
Definition To prod or jab with an object such as a finger or a stick. A surname, variant of Pike.

Letter map: poke vs Pyke

Shared letters muted; letters that set poke and Pyke apart highlighted. Shared run: 3.

4 ch
poke
4 ch
Pyke

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: poke is averb and Pykeaname. On the page they differ by a single letter - o in “poke” becomes y in “Pyke”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 62026, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

poke is recorded at frequency rank #13,037, classified as averb, pronounced /pəʊk/. Pyke is at rank #48,989, tagged as aname.

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 62026, this pair ranks #90,786 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of poke vs Pyke

Shared letters: ekp. Private to "poke": o. Private to "Pyke": y.

"poke" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "Pyke" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pokeopke · pkoe · poek · pokke · ppoke
  • Pykepkye · ppyke · pyek · pykke · pyyke · ypke

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "poke" and "Pyke" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "poke" is a verb and "Pyke" a name, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "poke" or "Pyke"?
"poke" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,037 in our English list, against #48,989 for "Pyke". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list