Which to use
“decided” is a verb and “defiled” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #846
- “decided” frequency rank
- #44,154
- “defiled” frequency rank
- 45000
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | decided | defiled |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of decide | Impure; dirty. |
Where the eye mixes decided and defiled
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between decided and defiled
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: decided is /dɪˈsaɪ.dɪd/ while defiled is [dɪˈfaɪ(jə)ɫd]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45000, 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/. defiled is at rank #44,154, tagged as anadj, pronounced [dɪˈfaɪ(jə)ɫd].
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 45000, this pair ranks #225,367 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of decided vs defiled
Shared letters: dei. Private to "decided": c. Private to "defiled": fl.
"decided" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC · "defiled" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "decided" and "defiled" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "decided" or "defiled" show up more?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "decided" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "defiled" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #225,367 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "decided" and "defiled" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "defile vs defiled". 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 #225,367 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.