Which to use
“wicked” is an adjective and “wicket” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #7,305
- “wicked” frequency rank
- #13,272
- “wicket” frequency rank
- 20577
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | wicked | wicket |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Evil or mischievous by nature; morally reprehensible. | A small door or gate, especially one beside a larger one. |
Where the eye mixes wicked and wicket
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. wicked and wicket follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: wicked vs wicket
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: wicked is /ˈwɪkɪd/ while wicket is /ˈwɪkɪt/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - d in “wicked” becomes t in “wicket”, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 20577, 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/. wicket is at rank #13,272, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈwɪkɪt/.
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 20577, this pair ranks #430,118 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of wicked vs wicket
Shared letters: ceikw. Private to "wicked": d. Private to "wicket": t.
"wicked" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "wicket" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "wicked" for "wicket" ever safe?
Frequency check: "wicked" vs "wicket" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "wicked" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "wicket" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #430,118 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "wicked" and "wicket" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "wicked vs wickedly". 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 #430,118 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.