Which to use
“brush” is a noun and “brushed” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #4,828
- “brush” frequency rank
- #13,473
- “brushed” frequency rank
- 18301
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | brush | brushed |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | An implement consisting of multiple more or less flexible bristles or other filaments attached to a handle, used for any of various purposes including cleaning, painting, and arranging hair. | Roughened by rubbing with an abrasive brushes, especially as a finish. |
Where the eye mixes brush and brushed
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses brush with brushed
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: brush is /bɹʌʃ/ while brushed is /ˈbɹʌʃt/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “brush” sits inside “brushed”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 18301, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
brush is recorded at frequency rank #4,828, classified as anoun, pronounced /bɹʌʃ/. brushed is at rank #13,473, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈbɹʌʃt/.
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 18301, this pair ranks #445,809 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of brush vs brushed
Shared letters: bhrsu. Private to "brush": -. Private to "brushed": de.
"brush" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC · "brushed" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "brush" for "brushed" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "brush" or "brushed" 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 "brush" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "brushed" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #445,809 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "brush" and "brushed" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "blushed vs brushed". 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 #445,809 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.