Which to use
“caused” is a verb and “cursed” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #1,388
- “caused” frequency rank
- #10,028
- “cursed” frequency rank
- 11416
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | caused | cursed |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of cause | Under some divine harm, malady, or other curse. |
Where the eye mixes caused and cursed
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: caused vs cursed
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: caused is /kɔːzd/ while cursed is /ˈkɜːsɪd/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 11416, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
caused is recorded at frequency rank #1,388, classified as averb, pronounced /kɔːzd/. cursed is at rank #10,028, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈkɜːsɪd/.
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 11416, this pair ranks #487,179 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of caused vs cursed
Shared letters: cdesu. Private to "caused": a. Private to "cursed": r.
"caused" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC · "cursed" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "caused" and "cursed" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "caused" or "cursed"?
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 "caused" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cursed" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #487,179 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "caused" and "cursed" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cased vs cursed". 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 #487,179 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.