pecar vs peck, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“pecar” is a verb and “peck” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#32,725
“pecar” frequency rank: #31,091
“peck” frequency rank: 63816
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	pecar	peck
Definition	cometer pecado	bicada

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set pecar and peck apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch

pecar

4 ch

peck

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: pecar is /pɨ.ˈkaɾ/ while peck is /pɛk/. 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 63816, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pecar is recorded at frequency rank #32,725, classified as averb, pronounced /pɨ.ˈkaɾ/. peck is at rank #31,091, tagged as anoun, pronounced /pɛk/.

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 63816, this pair ranks #6,024 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of pecar vs peck

Shared letters: cep. Private to "pecar": ar. Private to "peck": k.

"pecar" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "peck" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

pecar ← epcar · pcear · peacr · pecarr · peccar · ppecar
peck ← epck · pcek · pecck · peckk · pekc · ppeck

Frequency comparison

pecar#32,725

peck#31,091

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "pecar" and "peck" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "pecar" is a verb and "peck" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "pecar" or "peck"?

"peck" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #31,091 in our Portuguese list, against #32,725 for "pecar". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering pecar vs peck

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “pecar”; for a noun, it's “peck”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “pecar” entry
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