Which to use
“decided” and “decked” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #846
- “decided” frequency rank
- #26,745
- “decked” frequency rank
- 27591
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | decided | decked |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of decide | simple past and past participle of deck |
Where the eye mixes decided and decked
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses decided with decked
A purely visual mix-up. decided (/dɪˈsaɪ.dɪd/) and decked (/dɛkt/) 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 27591, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
decided is recorded at frequency rank #846, classified as averb, pronounced /dɪˈsaɪ.dɪd/. decked is at rank #26,745, tagged as averb, pronounced /dɛkt/.
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 27591, this pair ranks #377,716 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of decided vs decked
Shared letters: cde. Private to "decided": i. Private to "decked": k.
"decided" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC · "decked" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "decided" for "decked" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "decided" or "decked" show up more?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "decided" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "decked" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #377,716 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "decided" and "decked" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "decked vs delved". 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 #377,716 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.