wickedvswickerWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: wicked is a adjective, wicker is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“wicked” is an adjective and “wicker” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#7,305
“wicked” frequency rank
#29,146
“wicker” frequency rank
36451
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature wicked wicker
Definition Evil or mischievous by nature; morally reprehensible. A flexible branch or twig of a plant such as willow, used in weaving baskets and furniture.

Where the eye mixes wicked and wicker

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

6 ch
wicked
6 ch
wicker

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: wicked is /ˈwɪkɪd/ while wicker is /ˈwɪkə(ɹ)/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - d in “wicked” becomes r in “wicker”, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 36451, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

wicked is recorded at frequency rank #7,305, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈwɪkɪd/. wicker is at rank #29,146, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈwɪkə(ɹ)/.

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 36451, this pair ranks #303,112 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of wicked vs wicker

Shared letters: ceikw. Private to "wicked": d. Private to "wicker": r.

"wicked" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "wicker" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • wickediwcked · wciked · wiccked · wicekd · wickde · wickedd · wickked · wikced
  • wickeriwcker · wciker · wiccker · wicekr · wickerr · wickker · wickre · wikcer

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "wicked" and "wicker" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "wicked" is an adjective and "wicker" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "wicked" or "wicker"?
"wicked" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,305 in our English list, against #29,146 for "wicker". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

You've compared "wicked" and "wicker". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "wicked" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "wicker" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #303,112 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "wicked" and "wicker" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "whisker vs wicker". 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

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list