blurredvsblushedWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: blurred is a adjective, blushed is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“blurred” is an adjective and “blushed” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#15,577
“blurred” frequency rank
#44,652
“blushed” frequency rank
60229
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature blurred blushed
Definition Out of focus; partially obscured; smudged. simple past and past participle of blush

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set blurred and blushed apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch
blurred
7 ch
blushed

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

blurred and blushed form a confusable pair in the English index, two distinct headwords that are easily confused because they look alike, sound alike, or both. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions - close enough that the eye skips over the difference, far enough that meaning fully diverges. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 60229, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

blurred is recorded at frequency rank #15,577, classified as anadj, pronounced /blɜːd/. blushed is at rank #44,652, tagged as averb, pronounced /blʌʃt/.

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 60229, this pair ranks #101,479 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Frequency comparison

blurred#15,577
blushed#44,652

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "blurred" and "blushed" be used interchangeably?
No, "blurred" and "blushed" have distinct meanings and cannot be swapped without changing the meaning of a sentence. Understanding the specific definition and context for each word is essential for correct usage.

Remembering blurred vs blushed

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “blurred”; for a verb, it's “blushed”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “blurred” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list