Which to use
“sick” is an adjective and “such” is a determiner - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #1,410
- “sick” frequency rank
- #146
- “such” frequency rank
- 1556
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | sick | such |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | In poor health; ill. | Like this, that, these, those; used to make a comparison with something implied by context. |
Where the eye mixes sick and such
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: sick vs such
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: sick is /ˈsɪk/ while such is /sʌt͡ʃ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs determiner), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 1556, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
sick is recorded at frequency rank #1,410, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈsɪk/. such is at rank #146, tagged as adet, pronounced /sʌt͡ʃ/.
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 1556, this pair ranks #527,186 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of sick vs such
Shared letters: cs. Private to "sick": ik. Private to "such": hu.
"sick" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "such" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "sick" and "such" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "sick" vs "such" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "sick" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "such" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #527,186 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "sick" and "such" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sick vs Sif". 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 #527,186 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.