Which to use
“buoy” is a noun and “buoyed” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #28,856
- “buoy” frequency rank
- #44,101
- “buoyed” frequency rank
- 72957
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | buoy | buoyed |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A float moored in water to mark a location, warn of danger, indicate a navigational channel or for other purposes | Marked with buoys |
Where the eye mixes buoy and buoyed
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. buoy runs 4 letters (CVVV) against buoyed's 6 (CVVVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between buoy and buoyed
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: buoy is /ˈbɔɪ/ while buoyed is /ˈbu.id/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “buoy” sits inside “buoyed”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 72957, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
buoy is recorded at frequency rank #28,856, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈbɔɪ/. buoyed is at rank #44,101, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈbu.id/.
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 72957, this pair ranks #41,262 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of buoy vs buoyed
Shared letters: bouy. Private to "buoy": -. Private to "buoyed": de.
"buoy" · 4 letters · shape CVVV · "buoyed" · 6 letters · shape CVVVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "buoy" and "buoyed" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "buoy" or "buoyed"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "buoy" and "buoyed" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "buoy" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "buoyed" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #41,262 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "buoy" and "buoyed" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "buoyed vs butted". 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 #41,262 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.