Which to use
“WIC” and “wick” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #44,019
- “WIC” frequency rank
- #18,737
- “wick” frequency rank
- 62756
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | WIC | wick |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Acronym of women, infants and children. | A braid or bundle of fibre or other porous material (now generally twisted or woven cotton) in a candle, kerosene heater, oil lamp, etc., that draws up a liquid fuel (such as melted tallow or wax, or oil) at one end, to be ignited at the other end to produce a flame. |
Where the spellings diverge
Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set WIC and wick apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
WIC and wick are indexed as a confusable English pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “WIC” sits inside “wick”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 62756, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
WIC is recorded at frequency rank #44,019, classified as anoun. wick is at rank #18,737, tagged as anoun, pronounced /wɪk/.
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 62756, this pair ranks #86,674 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of WIC vs wick
Shared letters: ciw. Private to "WIC": -. Private to "wick": k.
"WIC" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "wick" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- wick ← iwck · wcik · wicck · wickk · wikc · wwick
Frequency comparison
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "WIC" and "wick" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "WIC" or "wick"?
Remembering WIC vs wick
The fastest way to pick the right one every time.
- Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
- See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “WIC” entry
- Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable