Which to use
“complained” and “complains” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #7,207
- “complained” frequency rank
- #15,587
- “complains” frequency rank
- 22794
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | complained | complains |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of complain | third-person singular simple present indicative of complain |
Where the eye mixes complained and complains
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses complained with complains
A purely visual mix-up. complained (/kəmˈpleɪnd/) and complains (/kəmˈpleɪnz/) 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 22794, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
complained is recorded at frequency rank #7,207, classified as averb, pronounced /kəmˈpleɪnd/. complains is at rank #15,587, tagged as averb, pronounced /kəmˈpleɪnz/.
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 22794, this pair ranks #413,964 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of complained vs complains
Shared letters: acilmnop. Private to "complained": de. Private to "complains": s.
"complained" · 10 letters · shape CVCCCVVCVC · "complains" · 9 letters · shape CVCCCVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- complained ← ccomplained · cmoplained · comlpained · commplained · compalined · complaiend · complainde · complainedd
- complains ← ccomplains · cmoplains · comlpains · commplains · compalins · complainns · complainss · complaisn
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "complained" and "complains" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "complained" or "complains" show up more?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "complained" and "complains" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "complained" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "complains" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #413,964 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "complained" and "complains" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "complains vs complies". 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 #413,964 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.