Which to use
“decided” is a verb and “defined” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #846
- “decided” frequency rank
- #2,668
- “defined” frequency rank
- 3514
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | decided | defined |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of decide | Having a definition or value. |
Where the eye mixes decided and defined
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: decided vs defined
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: decided is /dɪˈsaɪ.dɪd/ while defined is /dɪˈfʌɪnd/. 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 3514, 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/. defined is at rank #2,668, tagged as anadj, pronounced /dɪˈfʌɪnd/.
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 3514, this pair ranks #521,888 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of decided vs defined
Shared letters: dei. Private to "decided": c. Private to "defined": fn.
"decided" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC · "defined" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "decided" for "defined" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "decided" or "defined" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "decided" and "defined" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "decided" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "defined" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #521,888 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "decided" and "defined" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "decibel vs decided". 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 #521,888 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.