Which to use
“pain” and “pic” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,925
- “pain” frequency rank
- #5,593
- “pic” frequency rank
- 7518
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pain | pic |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pâte cuite au four, à base de farine, d’eau et de levure de boulanger ou de levain. | Oiseau grimpeur se nourrissant de larves qu’il va chercher dans l’écorce en la frappant par des coups de bec répétés pour tester la résonance du bois (martèlement) ; communiquant également avec ses congénères par ce moyen (tambourinage) et creusant son nid dans un tronc d’arbre. |
Where the eye mixes pain and pic
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: pain vs pic
A purely visual mix-up. pain (\pɛ̃\) and pic (\pik\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 7518, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
pain is recorded at frequency rank #1,925, classified as anoun, pronounced \pɛ̃\. pic is at rank #5,593, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pik\.
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 7518, this pair ranks #422,928 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of pain vs pic
Shared letters: ip. Private to "pain": an. Private to "pic": c.
"pain" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "pic" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- pain ← apin · painn · pani · pian · ppain
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "pain" and "pic" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "pain" vs "pic" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "pain" and "pic" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "pain" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "pic" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #422,928 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pain" and "pic" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pic vs pio". 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 #422,928 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.