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PlainSpell

pick

/pɪk/noun, verb

pick is spelled P-I-C-K: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 120 times per million words in written English, the 873rd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, pick means “A tool used for digging; a pickaxe” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of pick is picks.

How many letters and syllables are in pick?

Letters4: P-I-C-K
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing120 times per million words; the 873rd most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Pairs people search
Sounds like

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026).

How common is pick?

Pick appears 120 times per million words in written English, the 873rd most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce pick?

  • /pɪk/
  • [pʰɪk]

Pick has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Back_ache-pick.wav, En-us-pick.ogg, En-au-pick.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Words people confuse with pick

Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).

pic vs pick0 B

Sounds like: pic (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).

Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).

Forms of pick

  • picks plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • picking participle, present
  • picked participle, past, singular, he/she/it, plural

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does pick mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

    A tool used for digging; a pickaxe.

  2. 2

    slangAn anchor.

  3. 3

    A pointed hammer used for dressing millstones.

  4. 4

    A tool for unlocking a lock without the original key; a lock pick, picklock.

  5. 5

    A comb with long widely spaced teeth, for use with tightly curled hair.

  6. 6

    A tool used for strumming the strings of a guitar; a plectrum.

  7. 7

    obsoleteA pike or spike; the sharp point fixed in the center of a buckler.

  8. 8

    A choice; ability to choose.

verb

  1. 1

    To grasp and pull with the fingers or fingernails.

    Don't pick at that scab.

  2. 2

    To harvest a fruit or vegetable for consumption by removing it from the plant to which it is attached; to harvest an entire plant by removing it from the ground.

    It's time to pick the tomatoes.

  3. 3

    To pull apart or away, especially with the fingers; to pluck.

    She picked flowers in the meadow.

  4. 4

    To take up; especially, to gather from here and there; to collect; to bring together.

    to pick rags

  5. 5

    To remove something from somewhere with a pointed instrument, with the fingers, or with the teeth.

    to pick the teeth; to pick a bone; to pick a goose; to pick a pocket

  6. 6

    To decide upon, from a set of options; to select.

    I'll pick the one with the nicest name.

  7. 7

    To seek (a fight or quarrel) where the opportunity arises.

  8. 8

    To recognise the type of ball being bowled by a bowler by studying the position of the hand and arm as the ball is released.

    He didn't pick the googly, and was bowled.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Pick in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchpioche (pickaxe), passe-partout (tool to open a lock), choix (choice), prendre, cueillir (to grasp and pull with fingers), choisir (to decide upon, from a set of options; to select)
GermanHacke, Pickel, Spitzhacke (pickaxe), Dietrich (tool to open a lock), pflücken (to remove a fruit or plant for consumption), zupfen (to pluck the individual strings of a musical…)
Portuguesepicareta (pickaxe), escolha (choice), pegar (to grasp and pull with fingers), escolher (to decide upon, from a set of options; to select), colher (to remove a fruit or plant for consumption)
Spanishpico, sacho, zapapico, piqueta (pickaxe), ganzúa (tool to open a lock), puya (general purpose hooked tool part of a set)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does pick come from?

From Middle English piken, picken, pikken, from Old English *piccian, *pīcian (attested in pīcung (“a pricking”)), and pīcan, pȳcan (“to pick, prick, pluck”), both from Proto-West Germanic *pikkōn, from Proto-Germanic *pikkōną (“to pick, peck, prick, knock”), from Proto-Indo-European *bew-, *bu- (“to make a dull, hollow sound”). Doublet of pitch and peck.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after pick