Which to use
“pick” is a verb and “pie” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #12,833
- “pick” frequency rank
- #8,596
- “pie” frequency rank
- 21429
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pick | pie |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Deuxième personne du singulier de l’impératif présent de picken. | Passereau de la famille des corvidés à longue queue, à plumage noir et au ventre blanc, renommé pour son bavardage et son attirance envers les objets brillants. |
Where the eye mixes pick and pie
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: pick vs pie
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: pick is \pɪk\ while pie is \pi\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 21429, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
pick is recorded at frequency rank #12,833, classified as averb, pronounced \pɪk\. pie is at rank #8,596, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pi\.
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 21429, this pair ranks #363,204 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of pick vs pie
Shared letters: ip. Private to "pick": ck. Private to "pie": e.
"pick" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "pie" · 3 letters · shape CVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- pick ← ipck · pcik · picck · pickk · pikc · ppick
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "pick" for "pie" ever safe?
Which is more common, "pick" or "pie"?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "pick" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "pie" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #363,204 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pick" and "pie" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pick 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 #363,204 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.