picovspicsouWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“pico” and “picsou” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#40,924
“pico” frequency rank
#33,831
“picsou” frequency rank
74755
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pico picsou
Definition Bec d’oiseau. Personne très avare.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set pico and picsou apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
pico
6 ch
picsou

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. pico (\ˈpi.ko\) and picsou (\pik.su\) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 74755, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pico is recorded at frequency rank #40,924, classified as anoun, pronounced \ˈpi.ko\. picsou is at rank #33,831, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pik.su\.

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 74755, this pair ranks #36,121 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of pico vs picsou

Shared letters: ciop. Private to "pico": -. Private to "picsou": su.

"pico" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "picsou" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • picoipco · pcio · picco · pioc · ppico
  • picsouipcsou · pcisou · piccsou · picosu · picssou · picsuo · piscou · ppicsou

Frequency comparison

pico#40,924
picsou#33,831

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "pico" and "picsou" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ˈpi.ko\ versus \pik.su\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "pico" or "picsou"?
"picsou" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #33,831 in our French list, against #40,924 for "pico". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering pico vs picsou

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “pico” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list