Which to use
“attend” and “attended” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #2,714
- “attend” frequency rank
- #3,146
- “attended” frequency rank
- 5860
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | attend | attended |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Senses relating to caring for or waiting on someone, or accompanying or being present. | simple past and past participle of attend |
Where the eye mixes attend and attended
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. attend runs 6 letters (VCCVCC) against attended's 8 (VCCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses attend with attended
A purely visual mix-up. attend (/əˈtɛnd/) and attended (/əˈtɛndɪd/) 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) - “attend” sits inside “attended”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 5860, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
attend is recorded at frequency rank #2,714, classified as averb, pronounced /əˈtɛnd/. attended is at rank #3,146, tagged as averb, pronounced /əˈtɛndɪd/.
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 5860, this pair ranks #513,732 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of attend vs attended
Shared letters: adent. Private to "attend": -. Private to "attended": -.
"attend" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCC · "attended" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "attend" for "attended" ever safe?
Which is more common, "attend" or "attended"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "attend" and "attended" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "attend" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "attended" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #513,732 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "attend" and "attended" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "append vs attend". 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 #513,732 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.