Which to use
“cuffed” is a verb and “cuffs” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #36,509
- “cuffed” frequency rank
- #21,176
- “cuffs” frequency rank
- 57685
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cuffed | cuffs |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of cuff | plural of cuff |
Where the eye mixes cuffed and cuffs
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: cuffed vs cuffs
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: cuffed is /kʌft/ while cuffs is /kʌfs/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 57685, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cuffed is recorded at frequency rank #36,509, classified as averb, pronounced /kʌft/. cuffs is at rank #21,176, tagged as anoun, pronounced /kʌfs/.
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 57685, this pair ranks #117,721 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of cuffed vs cuffs
Shared letters: cfu. Private to "cuffed": de. Private to "cuffs": s.
"cuffed" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "cuffs" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "cuffed" and "cuffs" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "cuffed" or "cuffs"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "cuffed" and "cuffs" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "cuffed" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cuffs" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #117,721 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cuffed" and "cuffs" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "chuffed vs cuffed". 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 #117,721 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.