Which to use
“amazed” is an adjective and “amazes” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #8,115
- “amazed” frequency rank
- #25,998
- “amazes” frequency rank
- 34113
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | amazed | amazes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Astonished or confounded with fear, surprise, or wonder; greatly surprised (often with ensuing adpositions e.g. at, with, or by). | third-person singular simple present indicative of amaze |
Where the eye mixes amazed and amazes
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses amazed with amazes
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: amazed is /əˈmeɪzd/ while amazes is /əˈmeɪzɪz/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - d in “amazed” becomes s in “amazes”, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34113, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
amazed is recorded at frequency rank #8,115, classified as anadj, pronounced /əˈmeɪzd/. amazes is at rank #25,998, tagged as averb, pronounced /əˈmeɪzɪz/.
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 34113, this pair ranks #323,570 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of amazed vs amazes
Shared letters: aemz. Private to "amazed": d. Private to "amazes": s.
"amazed" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVC · "amazes" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "amazed" for "amazes" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "amazed" or "amazes" show up more?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "amazed" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "amazes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #323,570 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "amazed" and "amazes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "amazes 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 #323,570 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.