Which to use
“borrow” is a verb and “borrowed” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #7,101
- “borrow” frequency rank
- #8,123
- “borrowed” frequency rank
- 15224
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | borrow | borrowed |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To receive (something) from somebody temporarily, expecting to return it. | Having been borrowed. |
Where the eye mixes borrow and borrowed
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses borrow with borrowed
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: borrow is /ˈbɒɹəʊ/ while borrowed is /ˈbɒɹəʊd/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “borrow” sits inside “borrowed”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 15224, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
borrow is recorded at frequency rank #7,101, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈbɒɹəʊ/. borrowed is at rank #8,123, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈbɒɹəʊd/.
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 15224, this pair ranks #465,314 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of borrow vs borrowed
Shared letters: borw. Private to "borrow": -. Private to "borrowed": de.
"borrow" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "borrowed" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "borrow" and "borrowed" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "borrow" or "borrowed"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "borrow" and "borrowed" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "borrow" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "borrowed" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #465,314 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "borrow" and "borrowed" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Boro vs borrow". 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 #465,314 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.