addedvsarsedConfusable pair

Which to use

“added” and “arsed” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#701
“added” frequency rank
#41,002
“arsed” frequency rank
41703
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature added arsed
Definition simple past and past participle of add simple past and past participle of arse.

Where the eye mixes added and arsed

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
added
5 ch
arsed

Look-alike desk: added vs arsed

A purely visual mix-up. added (/ˈæd.əd/) and arsed (/ɑːst/) 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 41703, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

added is recorded at frequency rank #701, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈæd.əd/. arsed is at rank #41,002, tagged as averb, pronounced /ɑːst/.

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 41703, this pair ranks #255,866 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of added vs arsed

Shared letters: ade. Private to "added": -. Private to "arsed": rs.

"added" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC  ·  "arsed" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • addedaddde · addedd · aded · adedd · daded
  • arsedaresd · arrsed · arsde · arsedd · arssed · asred · rased

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "added" and "arsed" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈæd.əd/ versus /ɑːst/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "added" vs "arsed" - which ranks higher?
"added" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #701 in our English list, against #41,002 for "arsed". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "added" and "arsed" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "added" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "arsed" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #255,866 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "added" and "arsed" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "aced vs arsed". 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 #255,866 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list