Which to use
“blamed” is an adjective and “blazes” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #8,244
- “blamed” frequency rank
- #37,827
- “blazes” frequency rank
- 46071
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | blamed | blazes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | euphemism of damned (intensifier) | plural of blaze |
Where the eye mixes blamed and blazes
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. blamed and blazes follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: blamed vs blazes
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: blamed is /bleɪmd/ while blazes is /ˈbleɪzɪz/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46071, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
blamed is recorded at frequency rank #8,244, classified as anadj, pronounced /bleɪmd/. blazes is at rank #37,827, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈbleɪzɪz/.
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 46071, this pair ranks #215,267 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of blamed vs blazes
Shared letters: abel. Private to "blamed": dm. Private to "blazes": sz.
"blamed" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC · "blazes" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "blamed" for "blazes" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "blamed" or "blazes" show up more?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "blamed" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "blazes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #215,267 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "blamed" and "blazes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bladed vs blazes". 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 #215,267 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.