Which to use
“cared” and “carried” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #5,942
- “cared” frequency rank
- #1,747
- “carried” frequency rank
- 7689
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cared | carried |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of care | simple past and past participle of carry |
Where the eye mixes cared and carried
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. cared runs 5 letters (CVCVC) against carried's 7 (CVCCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses cared with carried
A purely visual mix-up. cared (/kɛɹd/) and carried (/ˈkæɹ.ɪd/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 7689, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cared is recorded at frequency rank #5,942, classified as averb, pronounced /kɛɹd/. carried is at rank #1,747, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈkæɹ.ɪd/.
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 7689, this pair ranks #506,019 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of cared vs carried
Shared letters: acder. Private to "cared": -. Private to "carried": i.
"cared" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "carried" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "cared" and "carried" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "cared" vs "carried" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "cared" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "carried" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #506,019 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cared" and "carried" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cared vs cates". 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 #506,019 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.