Which to use
“avoid” and “avoided” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,416
- “avoid” frequency rank
- #6,331
- “avoided” frequency rank
- 7747
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | avoid | avoided |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To try not to meet or communicate with (a person); to shun. | simple past and past participle of avoid |
Where the eye mixes avoid and avoided
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between avoid and avoided
A purely visual mix-up. avoid (/əˈvɔɪd/) and avoided (/əˈvɔɪdɪd/) 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) - “avoid” sits inside “avoided”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 7747, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
avoid is recorded at frequency rank #1,416, classified as averb, pronounced /əˈvɔɪd/. avoided is at rank #6,331, tagged as averb, pronounced /əˈvɔɪdɪd/.
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 7747, this pair ranks #505,748 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of avoid vs avoided
Shared letters: adiov. Private to "avoid": -. Private to "avoided": e.
"avoid" · 5 letters · shape VCVVC · "avoided" · 7 letters · shape VCVVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "avoid" for "avoided" ever safe?
Which is more common, "avoid" or "avoided"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "avoid" and "avoided" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "avoid" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "avoided" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #505,748 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "avoid" and "avoided" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "avoided vs avowed". 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 #505,748 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.