Which to use
“been” and “born” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #62
- “been” frequency rank
- #843
- “born” frequency rank
- 905
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | been | born |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | past participle of be. | past participle of bear; given birth to. |
Where the eye mixes been and born
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
A purely visual mix-up. been (/bɪn/) and born (/bɔːn/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 905, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
been is recorded at frequency rank #62, classified as averb, pronounced /bɪn/. born is at rank #843, tagged as averb, pronounced /bɔːn/.
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 905, this pair ranks #528,532 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of been vs born
Shared letters: bn. Private to "been": e. Private to "born": or.
"been" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "born" · 4 letters · shape CVCC