Which to use
“panique” is an adjective and “pique” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #5,056
- “panique” frequency rank
- #5,061
- “pique” frequency rank
- 10117
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | panique | pique |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Qui a un rapport avec le dieu Pan ou les forces de la nature. | Sorte d’arme formée d’un long bois dont le bout est garni d’un fer plat et pointu. |
Where the eye mixes panique and pique
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. panique runs 7 letters (CVCVCVV) against pique's 5 (CVCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: panique vs pique
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: panique is \pa.nik\ while pique is \pik\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 10117, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
panique is recorded at frequency rank #5,056, classified as anadj, pronounced \pa.nik\. pique is at rank #5,061, 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 10117, this pair ranks #414,159 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of panique vs pique
Shared letters: eipqu. Private to "panique": an. Private to "pique": -.
"panique" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVV · "pique" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "panique" for "pique" ever safe?
Frequency check: "panique" vs "pique" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "panique" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "pique" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #414,159 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "panique" and "pique" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pasque vs pique". 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 #414,159 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.