# picket

> English word · Noun · IPA /ˈpɪkɪt/ · frequency rank #20,458

## Definitions
1. A stake driven into the ground.
2. A type of punishment by which an offender had to rest his or her entire body weight on the top of a small stake.
3. A tool in mountaineering that is driven into the snow and used as an anchor or to arrest falls.
4. One of the soldiers or troops placed on a line forward of a position to warn against an enemy advance; or any unit (for example, an aircraft or ship) performing a similar function.
5. A sentry.
6. A protester positioned outside an office, workplace etc. during a strike (usually in plural); also the protest itself.
7. The card game piquet.

## Etymology
From French piquet, from piquer (“to pierce”).

## Easily confused with
- **pike** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/picket-vs-pike)
- **piet** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/picket-vs-piet)
- **picks** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/picket-vs-picks)
- **picky** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/picket-vs-picky)
- **pocket** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/picket-vs-pocket)
- **pickup** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/picket-vs-pickup)
- **pickle** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/picket-vs-pickle)
- **piglet** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/picket-vs-piglet)
- **pockets** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/picket-vs-pockets)
- **pickles** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/picket-vs-pickles)
- **pickled** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/picket-vs-pickled)
- **pick** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pick-vs-picket)
- **picked** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/picked-vs-picket)
- **packed** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/packed-vs-picket)
- **packet** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/packet-vs-picket)
- **packer** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/packer-vs-picket)
- **Phuket** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/phuket-vs-picket)
- **picker** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/picker-vs-picket)

## Common misspellings (9)
`ipcket`, `pciket`, `piccket`, `picekt`, `pickett`, `pickket`, `pickte`, `pikcet`, `ppicket`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/picket