Which to use
“sick” is a verb and “stock” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #45,317
- “sick” frequency rank
- #5,079
- “stock” frequency rank
- 50396
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | sick | stock |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Deuxième personne du singulier de l’impératif présent de sicken. | Quantité de marchandise qui se trouve en magasin, dans des entrepôts ou sur les marchés d’une place de commerce. |
Where the eye mixes sick and stock
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. sick runs 4 letters (CVCC) against stock's 5 (CCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between sick and stock
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: sick is \zɪk\ while stock is \stɔk\. 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 50396, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
sick is recorded at frequency rank #45,317, classified as averb, pronounced \zɪk\. stock is at rank #5,079, tagged as anoun, pronounced \stɔk\.
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 50396, this pair ranks #162,989 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of sick vs stock
Shared letters: cks. Private to "sick": i. Private to "stock": ot.
"sick" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "stock" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "sick" for "stock" ever safe?
Which is more common, "sick" or "stock"?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "sick" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "stock" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #162,989 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "sick" and "stock" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sicav vs sick". 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 #162,989 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.