Which to use
“achieved” and “achieves” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #3,037
- “achieved” frequency rank
- #18,745
- “achieves” frequency rank
- 21782
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | achieved | achieves |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of achieve | third-person singular simple present indicative of achieve |
Where the eye mixes achieved and achieves
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. achieved and achieves follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCVVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: achieved vs achieves
A purely visual mix-up. achieved (/əˈt͡ʃiːvd/) and achieves (/əˈt͡ʃiːvz/) 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 “achieved” becomes s in “achieves”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 21782, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
achieved is recorded at frequency rank #3,037, classified as averb, pronounced /əˈt͡ʃiːvd/. achieves is at rank #18,745, tagged as averb, pronounced /əˈt͡ʃiːvz/.
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 21782, this pair ranks #421,389 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of achieved vs achieves
Shared letters: acehiv. Private to "achieved": d. Private to "achieves": s.
"achieved" · 8 letters · shape VCCVVCVC · "achieves" · 8 letters · shape VCCVVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "achieved" and "achieves" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "achieved" vs "achieves" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "achieved" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "achieves" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #421,389 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "achieved" and "achieves" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "achieves vs Achilles". 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 #421,389 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.