Which to use
“belonged” and “belongs” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #6,990
- “belonged” frequency rank
- #4,738
- “belongs” frequency rank
- 11728
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | belonged | belongs |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of belong | third-person singular simple present indicative of belong |
Where the eye mixes belonged and belongs
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: belonged vs belongs
A purely visual mix-up. belonged (/bɪˈlɒŋd/) and belongs (/bɪˈlɒŋz/) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 11728, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
belonged is recorded at frequency rank #6,990, classified as averb, pronounced /bɪˈlɒŋd/. belongs is at rank #4,738, tagged as averb, pronounced /bɪˈlɒŋz/.
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 11728, this pair ranks #485,459 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of belonged vs belongs
Shared letters: beglno. Private to "belonged": d. Private to "belongs": s.
"belonged" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC · "belongs" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "belonged" and "belongs" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "belonged" or "belongs"?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "belonged" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "belongs" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #485,459 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "belonged" and "belongs" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "belonged vs beloved". 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 #485,459 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.