Which to use
“completed” and “completes” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,750
- “completed” frequency rank
- #14,494
- “completes” frequency rank
- 16244
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | completed | completes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of complete | third-person singular simple present indicative of complete |
Where the eye mixes completed and completes
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses completed with completes
A purely visual mix-up. completed (/kəmˈpliːtɪd/) and completes (/kəmˈpliːts/) 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 a single letter - d in “completed” becomes s in “completes”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 16244, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
completed is recorded at frequency rank #1,750, classified as averb, pronounced /kəmˈpliːtɪd/. completes is at rank #14,494, tagged as averb, pronounced /kəmˈpliːts/.
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 16244, this pair ranks #458,992 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of completed vs completes
Shared letters: celmopt. Private to "completed": d. Private to "completes": s.
"completed" · 9 letters · shape CVCCCVCVC · "completes" · 9 letters · shape CVCCCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "completed" and "completes" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "completed" or "completes"?
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 "completed" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "completes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #458,992 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "completed" and "completes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "completes 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 #458,992 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.