The 12 C( 18 O, 16 O) 14 C and 13 C( 18 O, 17 O) 14 C reactions were studied at INFN-LNS laboratory in Catania. The experiments were performed us- ing an 18 O Tandem beam at 84 MeV incident energy. Charged ejectiles produced in the reactions were momentum analyzed and identified by the MAGNEX spectrometer. Q -value spectra were extracted with a remark- able energy resolution (FWHM 150 keV) and several known bound and resonant states were identified. In particular, states with relevant 1p–3h configuration with respect to the 16 O core are mainly populated by the re- action ( 18 O, 17 O) while states with known 2p–4h configuration are excited by the ( 18 O, 16 O) one. Exact Finite Range Coupled Reaction Channel cal- culations based on a parameter free double-folding optical potential were performed to reproduce the measured absolute cross-section angular distri- butions. The (18O,16O) is found to be an important probe to study pair configurations in nuclear states.