Which to use
“comprise” and “comprised” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #12,565
- “comprise” frequency rank
- #9,305
- “comprised” frequency rank
- 21870
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | comprise | comprised |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To be made up of; to consist of (especially a comprehensive list of parts). | simple past and past participle of comprise |
Where the eye mixes comprise and comprised
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between comprise and comprised
A purely visual mix-up. comprise (/kəmˈpɹaɪz/) and comprised (/kəmˈpɹaɪzd/) 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 extra letter(s) - “comprise” sits inside “comprised”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 21870, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
comprise is recorded at frequency rank #12,565, classified as averb, pronounced /kəmˈpɹaɪz/. comprised is at rank #9,305, tagged as averb, pronounced /kəmˈpɹaɪzd/.
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 21870, this pair ranks #420,752 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of comprise vs comprised
Shared letters: ceimoprs. Private to "comprise": -. Private to "comprised": d.
"comprise" · 8 letters · shape CVCCCVCV · "comprised" · 9 letters · shape CVCCCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "comprise" and "comprised" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "comprise" or "comprised"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "comprise" and "comprised" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "comprise" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "comprised" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #420,752 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "comprise" and "comprised" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "compress vs comprise". 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 #420,752 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.