Which to use
“begged” and “bested” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #13,286
- “begged” frequency rank
- #40,581
- “bested” frequency rank
- 53867
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | begged | bested |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of beg | simple past and past participle of best |
Where the eye mixes begged and bested
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses begged with bested
A purely visual mix-up. begged (/bɛɡd/) and bested (/ˈbɛstɪd/) 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 53867, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
begged is recorded at frequency rank #13,286, classified as averb, pronounced /bɛɡd/. bested is at rank #40,581, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈbɛstɪd/.
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 53867, this pair ranks #145,540 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of begged vs bested
Shared letters: bde. Private to "begged": g. Private to "bested": st.
"begged" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "bested" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "begged" and "bested" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "begged" vs "bested" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "begged" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "bested" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #145,540 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "begged" and "bested" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bested vs bestie". 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 #145,540 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.