pen--because alphabetical order depends on factors:
-Alphabet letters, literally (spaces DO NOT make them differ)
-If similar thus far, the shorter one comes first
Pencil
Africa comes first in alphabetical order for contients
PenPencil
The word scoreboard comes first in alphabetical order.
Albania
snow comes first
In comes before indict in alphabetical order.
Africa
its it's
you
we're
The word do comes first in alphabetical order before doing.