Which to use
“accrued” and “accused” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #24,074
- “accrued” frequency rank
- #3,204
- “accused” frequency rank
- 27278
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | accrued | accused |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of accrue | simple past and past participle of accuse |
Where the eye mixes accrued and accused
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. accrued (VCCCVVC) and accused (VCCVCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses accrued with accused
A purely visual mix-up. accrued (/əˈkɹuːd/) and accused (/əˈkjuzd/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 27278, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
accrued is recorded at frequency rank #24,074, classified as averb, pronounced /əˈkɹuːd/. accused is at rank #3,204, tagged as averb, pronounced /əˈkjuzd/.
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 27278, this pair ranks #380,201 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of accrued vs accused
Shared letters: acdeu. Private to "accrued": r. Private to "accused": s.
"accrued" · 7 letters · shape VCCCVVC · "accused" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "accrued" and "accused" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "accrued" vs "accused" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "accrued" and "accused" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "accrued" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "accused" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #380,201 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "accrued" and "accused" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "accrued vs accursed". 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 #380,201 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.