Which to use
“attached” and “attaches” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #2,873
- “attached” frequency rank
- #24,986
- “attaches” frequency rank
- 27859
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | attached | attaches |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of attach | third-person singular simple present indicative of attach |
Where the eye mixes attached and attaches
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between attached and attaches
A purely visual mix-up. attached (/əˈtæt͡ʃt/) and attaches (/əˈtæt͡ʃɪz/) 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 “attached” becomes s in “attaches”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 27859, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
attached is recorded at frequency rank #2,873, classified as averb, pronounced /əˈtæt͡ʃt/. attaches is at rank #24,986, tagged as averb, pronounced /əˈtæt͡ʃɪz/.
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 27859, this pair ranks #375,538 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of attached vs attaches
Shared letters: aceht. Private to "attached": d. Private to "attaches": s.
"attached" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCVC · "attaches" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "attached" for "attaches" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "attached" or "attaches" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "attached" and "attaches" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "attached" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "attaches" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #375,538 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "attached" and "attaches" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "attaché vs attaches". 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 #375,538 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.