Which to use
“accused” and “accuses” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #3,204
- “accused” frequency rank
- #16,631
- “accuses” frequency rank
- 19835
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | accused | accuses |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of accuse | third-person singular simple present indicative of accuse |
Where the eye mixes accused and accuses
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. accused and accuses follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses accused with accuses
A purely visual mix-up. accused (/əˈkjuzd/) and accuses (/əˈkjuːzɪz/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by a single letter - d in “accused” becomes s in “accuses”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 19835, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
accused is recorded at frequency rank #3,204, classified as averb, pronounced /əˈkjuzd/. accuses is at rank #16,631, tagged as averb, pronounced /əˈkjuːzɪz/.
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 19835, this pair ranks #435,394 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of accused vs accuses
Shared letters: acesu. Private to "accused": d. Private to "accuses": -.
"accused" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC · "accuses" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "accused" and "accuses" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "accused" vs "accuses" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "accused" and "accuses" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "accused" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "accuses" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #435,394 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "accused" and "accuses" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "accuses vs amuses". 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 #435,394 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.