Which to use
“behave” and “behaved” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #7,097
- “behave” frequency rank
- #13,100
- “behaved” frequency rank
- 20197
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | behave | behaved |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To conduct (oneself) well, or in a given way; to conform. | simple past and past participle of behave |
Where the eye mixes behave and behaved
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: behave vs behaved
A purely visual mix-up. behave (/bɪˈheɪv/) and behaved (/bɪˈheɪvd/) 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 1 extra letter(s) - “behave” sits inside “behaved”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 20197, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
behave is recorded at frequency rank #7,097, classified as averb, pronounced /bɪˈheɪv/. behaved is at rank #13,100, tagged as averb, pronounced /bɪˈheɪvd/.
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 20197, this pair ranks #432,828 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of behave vs behaved
Shared letters: abehv. Private to "behave": -. Private to "behaved": d.
"behave" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV · "behaved" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "behave" and "behaved" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "behave" or "behaved" show up more?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "behave" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "behaved" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #432,828 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "behave" and "behaved" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "behaved vs braved". 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 #432,828 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.