Which to use
“defend” is a verb and “defended” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #3,159
- “defend” frequency rank
- #7,118
- “defended” frequency rank
- 10277
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | defend | defended |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To ward off attacks against; to fight to protect; to guard. | Having defenses. |
Where the eye mixes defend and defended
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. defend runs 6 letters (CVCVCC) against defended's 8 (CVCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses defend with defended
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: defend is /dɪˈfɛnd/ while defended is /dɪˈfɛndɪd/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “defend” sits inside “defended”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 10277, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
defend is recorded at frequency rank #3,159, classified as averb, pronounced /dɪˈfɛnd/. defended is at rank #7,118, tagged as anadj, pronounced /dɪˈfɛndɪd/.
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 10277, this pair ranks #493,125 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of defend vs defended
Shared letters: defn. Private to "defend": -. Private to "defended": -.
"defend" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC · "defended" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "defend" and "defended" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "defend" vs "defended" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "defend" and "defended" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "defend" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "defended" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #493,125 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "defend" and "defended" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "defended vs demented". 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 #493,125 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.