Which to use
“attach” and “attached” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #10,328
- “attach” frequency rank
- #2,873
- “attached” frequency rank
- 13201
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | attach | attached |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To fasten, to join to (literally and figuratively). | simple past and past participle of attach |
Where the eye mixes attach and attached
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses attach with attached
A purely visual mix-up. attach (/əˈtæt͡ʃ/) and attached (/əˈtæt͡ʃt/) 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 2 extra letter(s) - “attach” sits inside “attached”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13201, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
attach is recorded at frequency rank #10,328, classified as averb, pronounced /əˈtæt͡ʃ/. attached is at rank #2,873, tagged as averb, pronounced /əˈtæt͡ʃt/.
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 13201, this pair ranks #477,210 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of attach vs attached
Shared letters: acht. Private to "attach": -. Private to "attached": de.
"attach" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCC · "attached" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "attach" and "attached" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "attach" or "attached" show up more?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "attach" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "attached" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #477,210 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "attach" and "attached" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "attach vs Attica". 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 #477,210 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.