Which to use
“confessed” and “confesses” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #10,669
- “confessed” frequency rank
- #24,707
- “confesses” frequency rank
- 35376
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | confessed | confesses |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of confess | third-person singular simple present indicative of confess |
Where the eye mixes confessed and confesses
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: confessed vs confesses
A purely visual mix-up. confessed (/kənˈfɛst/) and confesses (/kənˈfɛsɪz/) 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 “confessed” becomes s in “confesses”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 35376, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
confessed is recorded at frequency rank #10,669, classified as averb, pronounced /kənˈfɛst/. confesses is at rank #24,707, tagged as averb, pronounced /kənˈfɛsɪz/.
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 35376, this pair ranks #312,530 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of confessed vs confesses
Shared letters: cefnos. Private to "confessed": d. Private to "confesses": -.
"confessed" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC · "confesses" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "confessed" for "confesses" ever safe?
Which is more common, "confessed" or "confesses"?
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 "confessed" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "confesses" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #312,530 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "confessed" and "confesses" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "confesses vs confessor". 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 #312,530 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.