Which to use
“completed” and “complied” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,750
- “completed” frequency rank
- #20,888
- “complied” frequency rank
- 22638
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | completed | complied |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of complete | simple past and past participle of comply |
Where the eye mixes completed and complied
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: completed vs complied
A purely visual mix-up. completed (/kəmˈpliːtɪd/) and complied (/kəmˈplaɪd/) 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 22638, 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/. complied is at rank #20,888, tagged as averb, pronounced /kəmˈplaɪd/.
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 22638, this pair ranks #415,118 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of completed vs complied
Shared letters: cdelmop. Private to "completed": t. Private to "complied": i.
"completed" · 9 letters · shape CVCCCVCVC · "complied" · 8 letters · shape CVCCCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "completed" and "complied" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "completed" or "complied" show up more?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "completed" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "complied" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #415,118 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "completed" and "complied" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "complied 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 #415,118 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.