Which to use
“decked” and “denied” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #26,745
- “decked” frequency rank
- #3,422
- “denied” frequency rank
- 30167
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | decked | denied |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of deck | simple past and past participle of deny |
Where the eye mixes decked and denied
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. decked (CVCCVC) and denied (CVCVVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Visual trap between decked and denied
A purely visual mix-up. decked (/dɛkt/) and denied (/dɪˈnaɪd/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 30167, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
decked is recorded at frequency rank #26,745, classified as averb, pronounced /dɛkt/. denied is at rank #3,422, tagged as averb, pronounced /dɪˈnaɪd/.
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 30167, this pair ranks #356,822 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of decked vs denied
Shared letters: de. Private to "decked": ck. Private to "denied": in.
"decked" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "denied" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "decked" and "denied" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "decked" vs "denied" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "decked" and "denied" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "decked" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "denied" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #356,822 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "decked" and "denied" 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 #356,822 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.