Did you find a small pink pill but don’t know what it is or what it’s used for? Identifying random pills isn’t always easy, but with the right tools and information, you’ll be able to identify any pink pill you find in no time.
Keep reading to learn what to be aware of if you find a pink pill and the four steps you can take to be able to identify it correctly. We also provide you with an extensive list of the most common pink pill types, with key information on their sizes, shapes, dosages, and usages.
Identifying Your Pink Pill: Safety Note
Before we go over the steps for identifying your pink pill, let’s look at a few cautionary points you’ll need to be aware of when dealing with any unidentified pills.
#1: Don’t Take a Pill You Can’t Identify
First and foremost, if you don’t know for certain what kind of pill you’ve found, do not take it (or let someone else take it)! Taking pills without knowing what they are is incredibly dangerous; you could experience severe side effects, allergic reactions, or even death. So when in doubt, spit it out!
#2: Avoid Pills You Don’t Have a Prescription For
If you’ve identified a pill and realized it’s a prescription medication, don’t take it if you don’t have a prescription for it. Not only is it illegal to take prescription medications that aren’t prescribed to you, but it’s also dangerous as a doctor has not determined whether the medication is safe for your body.
Without a prescription, you simply can’t know what kind of effect (helpful or harmful) the medication will have on you. And it’s certainly not worth the risk to find out!
#3: Try to Keep Pills in Their Original Bottles
Lastly, if you have multiple medications at home, try your best to keep all pills in their original bottles and containers. This will help prevent you from mixing up pills and being unable to identify them in the future.
On a related note, keeping your pills in their appropriate containers also lets you keep track of how many pills you have left in a prescription before you need to refill it.
How to Identify a Pink Pill: 4 Key Steps
There are four critical steps you must follow in order to successfully identify a pink pill.
Step 1: Check Imprint/Pill Code
Many times you’ll find an imprint (usually a combination of letters and/or numbers) printed on one or both sides of a pill. A pill with an imprint is generally easier to identify than a pill without one, so always check for this feature first on whatever pill you have.
As you look at your pink pill, write down any imprints it has exactly as they appear. If your pill doesn’t have an imprint, go straight to step 2.
Step 2: Determine Shape
Next, you’ll figure out the shape of your pink pill. Some of the most common shapes for pills include the following:
- Round (circle)
- Oval
- Capsule
- Diamond
- Rectangle
- Square
- Pentagon (5 sides)
- Hexagon (6 sides)
- Octagon (8 sides)
Knowing the shape of your pink pill can help you distinguish it from others with similar imprints.
Step 3: Measure Pill Size
The third step is to measure the size of your pink pill. Knowing the exact size can help you distinguish your pill from others with similar imprints and shapes. For example, if you’ve got a round pink pill that’s 5 mm long, you can rest assured it’s not a diclofenac sodium pill, which is 9 mm long!
Because pills are so small, always use millimeters to measure their sizes. Once you’ve got the exact length, use this information to determine whether it’s small, medium, or large relative to other pills.
Step 4: Look Up Pill
Finally, this article itself is a resource you can use to look up possible pill matches. Below, we list more than 20 common pink pills along with their imprints, sizes, shapes, dosages, and usages.
To find a pill using its imprint, use ctrl + F and type in your pill code. If your pill isn’t listed below, use its shape, color, size, and imprint to look it up on the National Library of Medicine’s Pillbox website.
Be aware, though: some pink pills look a lot alike—and some even have the same imprint! For example, if you’ve got a round pink pill with the imprint 25, it could be a meclizine hydrochloride 25-mg pill used to treat motion sickness or a quetiapine 25-mg antipsychotic. Despite their outward similarities, these are two totally different drugs!
If you find two or more pills that look like the small pink pill you have, try to narrow down your options by looking at the exact size of the pill (using millimeters) and even its color brightness (for example, is your pill a light or dark pink?).
Unfortunately, some pills don’t have images on Pillbox, making it even more difficult to identify the pill and distinguish it from similar-looking pills. Ultimately, if you can’t identify your pink pill, don’t take it—instead, dispose of it properly per FDA guidelines.
Common Pink Pills
In this section, we give you an extensive list of pink pills arranged by imprint. For each pill, we include its size in millimeters, shape, contents, dosage, usage, and brand name(s). Images have been provided when available.
Pink Pill NP 12
Size: 6 mm
Shape: Round
What It Is: Oxycodone hydrochloride 10 mg
What It’s For: Prescription opioid pain reliever for moderate to severe pain
Also Sold As: Roxicodone, Percolone, Endocodone, Oxaydo
Pink Pill K 56
Size: 6 mm
Shape: Round
What It Is: Oxycodone hydrochloride 10 mg
What It’s For: Prescription opioid pain reliever for moderate to severe pain
Also Sold As: Roxicodone, Percolone, Endocodone, Oxaydo
Pink Pill 370
Size: 6 mm
Shape: Round
What It Is: Oxycodone hydrochloride 10 mg
What It’s For: Prescription opioid pain reliever for severe pain
Also Sold As: Roxicodone, Percolone, Endocodone, Oxaydo
Pink Pill 113
Size: 6 mm
Shape: Round
What It Is: Oxycodone hydrochloride 15 mg
What It’s For: Prescription opioid pain reliever for severe pain
Also Sold As: Roxicodone, Percolone, Endocodone, Oxaydo
Pink Pill 44 329
Size: 11 mm
Shape: Oval
What It Is: Diphenhydramine hydrochloride 25 mg
What It’s For: Over-the-counter antihistamine for allergy relief. Primarily used to treat symptoms of allergies and hay fever, such as watery eyes, runny nose, sneezing, and itchy throat/nose.
Also Sold As: Benadryl
Pink Pill 3600 V
Size: 17 mm
Shape: Oval
What It Is: Acetaminophen 500 mg, hydrocodone bitartrate 10 mg
What It’s For: Prescription opioid pain reliever for severe pain
Also Sold As: Vicodin, Norco, Lorcet
Pink Pill 3605 V
Size: 14 mm
Shape: Oval
Color: Orange (Pillbox classifies it as an orange pill, though it is more of a peachy/light pink color)
What It Is: Acetaminophen 325 mg, hydrocodone bitartrate 7.5 mg
What It’s For: Prescription opioid pain reliever for moderate to moderately severe pain
Also Sold As: Vicodin, Norco, Lorcet
Pink Pill Cor 135
Size: 9 mm
Shape: Round
What It Is: Dextroamphetamine saccharate, amphetamine aspartate monohydrate, dextroamphetamine sulfate, and amphetamine sulfate. Available in two dosages: 3.75 mg and 5 mg.
What It’s For: Prescription amphetamine used primarily to treat ADHD and narcolepsy
Also Sold As: Adderall
Pink Pill R 33
Size: 8 mm
Shape: Round
What It Is: Clonazepam 0.5 mg
What It’s For: Prescription benzodiazepine (psychoactive drug or sedative) used to treat seizure disorders and panic disorder
Also Sold As: Klonopin
Pink Pill 50
Size: 8 mm
Shape: Trapezoid
What It Is: Fluconazole 50 mg
What It’s For: Prescription antifungal agent used to treat vaginal candidiasis (yeast infections), oropharyngeal and esophageal candidiasis, and cryptococcal meningitis. Also used to decrease the risk of candidiasis in patients undergoing bone marrow transplantation.
Also Sold As: Diflucan
Pink Pill 5410 50
Size: 8 mm
Shape: Oval
What It Is: Fluconazole 50 mg
What It’s For: Prescription antifungal agent used to treat vaginal candidiasis (yeast infections), oropharyngeal and esophageal candidiasis, and cryptococcal meningitis. Also used to decrease the risk of candidiasis in patients undergoing bone marrow transplantation.
Also Sold As: Diflucan
Pink Pill 500 TM
Size: 16 mm
Shape: Oval
What It Is: Tinidazole 500 mg
What It’s For: Prescription antibiotic used to treat trichomoniasis, a sexually transmitted infection caused by a parasite
Also Sold As: Tindamax
Pink Pill 500 Xeloda
Size: 11 mm
Shape: Oval
What It Is: Capecitabine 500 mg
What It’s For: Prescription nucleoside metabolic inhibitor used to treat colon cancer, colorectal cancer, and breast cancer
Also Sold As: Xeloda
Pink Pill 174
Size: 10 mm
Shape: Round
What It Is: Bisacodyl 5 mg
What It’s For: Over-the-counter delayed-release laxative used to relieve constipation in women
Also Sold As: Dulcolax Pink
Pink Pill 193 R
Size: 14 mm
Shape: Oval
What It Is: Fexofenadine hydrochloride 60 mg
What It’s For: Prescription antihistamine used to treat seasonal allergic rhinitis in both adults and children 6 and older
Also Sold As: Allegra
Pink Pill 147 93
Size: 10 mm
Shape: Round
Color: Red (Pillbox classifies it as a red pill, though it is actually more of a light red/pink color)
What It Is: Naproxen 250 mg
What It’s For: Prescription nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) used primarily to treat arthritis and spondylitis (joint stiffness). Also relieves pain and symptoms of conditions such as gout, tendonitis, and bursitis.
Also Sold As: Aleve, Naprosyn, Midol
Pink Pill 268
Size: 14 mm
Shape: Capsule
What It Is: Carbamazepine 200 mg
What It’s For: Prescription anticonvulsant drug used to treat epilepsy and trigeminal neuralgia
Also Sold As: Tegretol, Carbatrol, Epitol
Pink Pill 75 W
Size: 8 mm
Shape: Hexagon (6 sides)
What It Is: Ranitidine hydrochloride 75 mg
What It’s For: Over-the-counter acid reducer used to prevent and relieve heartburn caused by acid indigestion, acid reflux, and/or GERD
Also Sold As: Zantac
Pink Pill Teva 73 / 93 73
Size: 7 mm
Shape: Round
What It Is: Zolpidem tartrate 5 mg
What It’s For: Prescription sedative used to treat insomnia
Also Sold As: Ambien
Pink Pill 115 C
Size: 9 mm
Shape: Round
What It Is: Demeclocycline hydrochloride 150 mg
What It’s For: Prescription antibiotic used to treat a variety of infections caused by microorganisms. Examples of infections include respiratory tract infections, relapsing fever, cholera, and anthrax.
Also Sold As: Declomycin
Pink Pill L141
Size: 8 mm
Shape: Round
What It Is: Famotidine 10 mg
What It’s For: Over-the-counter acid reducer used to prevent and relieve heartburn caused by acid indigestion, acid reflux, and/or GERD
Also Sold As: Pepcid
Identifying Your Pink Pill: Key Takeaways
If you’ve got a small pink pill on hand, what should you do? First, never take any pill you can’t identify as there can be dangerous consequences. Additionally, don’t take any prescription pills for which you don’t have a prescription.
So, how can you go about identifying your pink pill? Go to the Pillbox website and follow these four steps:
- Check for an imprint on your pill. This can be a combination of numbers, letters, and/or words, and it may be on just one or both sides.
- Note the shape of the pill. Is it a regular round pink pill or a more unique shape such as a hexagon or trapezoid?
- Measure its length to the nearest millimeter. This will help you determine whether the pill is small, medium, or large.
- If you’re having trouble identifying your pill, use the descriptions above. We’ve listed several pink pills, both over-the-counter and prescription, you’re likely to come across.
And as a final word of caution, if you can’t identify your small pink pill in the end—either on your own or by using our list above—make sure to dispose of it per FDA guidelines. This is the safest thing you can do with the pill you’ve found!