Which to use
“deemed” and “deems” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #5,210
- “deemed” frequency rank
- #25,348
- “deems” frequency rank
- 30558
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | deemed | deems |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of deem | third-person singular simple present indicative of deem |
Where the eye mixes deemed and deems
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between deemed and deems
A purely visual mix-up. deemed (/diːmd/) and deems (/diːmz/) 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 30558, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
deemed is recorded at frequency rank #5,210, classified as averb, pronounced /diːmd/. deems is at rank #25,348, tagged as averb, pronounced /diːmz/.
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 30558, this pair ranks #353,575 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of deemed vs deems
Shared letters: dem. Private to "deemed": -. Private to "deems": s.
"deemed" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC · "deems" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "deemed" for "deems" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "deemed" or "deems" show up more?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "deemed" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "deems" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #353,575 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "deemed" and "deems" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "deems vs dregs". 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 #353,575 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.