Which to use
“cased” and “ceased” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #48,121
- “cased” frequency rank
- #9,450
- “ceased” frequency rank
- 57571
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cased | ceased |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of case | simple past and past participle of cease |
Where the eye mixes cased and ceased
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. cased runs 5 letters (CVCVC) against ceased's 6 (CVVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses cased with ceased
A purely visual mix-up. cased (/keɪst/) and ceased (/siːst/) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 57571, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cased is recorded at frequency rank #48,121, classified as averb, pronounced /keɪst/. ceased is at rank #9,450, tagged as averb, pronounced /siːst/.
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 57571, this pair ranks #118,450 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of cased vs ceased
Shared letters: acdes. Private to "cased": -. Private to "ceased": -.
"cased" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "ceased" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "cased" for "ceased" ever safe?
Which is more common, "cased" or "ceased"?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "cased" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "ceased" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #118,450 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cased" and "ceased" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cased vs clasped". 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 #118,450 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.