Which to use
“psychic” is a noun and “psycho” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #9,653
- “psychic” frequency rank
- #10,596
- “psycho” frequency rank
- 20249
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | psychic | psycho |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A person who possesses, or appears to possess, extra-sensory abilities such as precognition, clairvoyance, and telepathy, or who appears to be susceptible to paranormal or supernatural influences. | Psychotic, psychopathic, or (broadly) otherwise insane. |
Where the spellings diverge
Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set psychic and psycho apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: psychic is /ˈsaɪkɪk/ while psycho is /ˈsaɪ̯.kəʊ̯/. 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 adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 20249, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
psychic is recorded at frequency rank #9,653, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈsaɪkɪk/. psycho is at rank #10,596, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈsaɪ̯.kəʊ̯/.
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 20249, this pair ranks #432,452 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of psychic vs psycho
Shared letters: chpsy. Private to "psychic": i. Private to "psycho": o.
"psychic" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC · "psycho" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequency comparison
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "psychic" and "psycho" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "psychic" or "psycho"?
Remembering psychic vs psycho
The fastest way to pick the right one every time.
- Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “psychic”; for an adjective, it's “psycho”.
- See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “psychic” entry
- Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable