concedevsconnedWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“concede” and “conned” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#15,370
“concede” frequency rank
#35,229
“conned” frequency rank
50599
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature concede conned
Definition To yield or suffer; to surrender; to grant simple past and past participle of con

Where the eye mixes concede and conned

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

7 ch
concede
6 ch
conned

Why the eye confuses concede with conned

A purely visual mix-up. concede (/kənˈsiːd/) and conned (/kɒnd/) 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 50599, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

concede is recorded at frequency rank #15,370, classified as averb, pronounced /kənˈsiːd/. conned is at rank #35,229, tagged as averb, pronounced /kɒnd/.

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 50599, this pair ranks #172,817 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of concede vs conned

Shared letters: cdeno. Private to "concede": -. Private to "conned": -.

"concede" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV  ·  "conned" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • concedecconcede · cnocede · cocnede · conccede · concdee · conceed · conecde · conncede
  • connedcconned · cnoned · coned · conend · connde · connedd · ocnned

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "concede" and "conned" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/kənˈsiːd/ versus /kɒnd/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "concede" vs "conned" - which ranks higher?
"concede" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,370 in our English list, against #35,229 for "conned". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "concede" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "conned" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #172,817 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "concede" and "conned" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "coaxed vs conned". 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 #172,817 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list