Which to use
“carried” and “cried” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,747
- “carried” frequency rank
- #5,207
- “cried” frequency rank
- 6954
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | carried | cried |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of carry | simple past and past participle of cry |
Where the eye mixes carried and cried
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. carried runs 7 letters (CVCCVVC) against cried's 5 (CCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses carried with cried
A purely visual mix-up. carried (/ˈkæɹ.ɪd/) and cried (/kɹaɪd/) 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 6954, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
carried is recorded at frequency rank #1,747, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈkæɹ.ɪd/. cried is at rank #5,207, tagged as averb, pronounced /kɹaɪd/.
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 6954, this pair ranks #509,264 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of carried vs cried
Shared letters: cdeir. Private to "carried": a. Private to "cried": -.
"carried" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC · "cried" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "carried" for "cried" ever safe?
Frequency check: "carried" vs "cried" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "carried" and "cried" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "carried" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cried" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #509,264 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "carried" and "cried" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cried vs Crist". 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 #509,264 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.