Which to use
“defile” is a verb and “defiled” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #44,153
- “defile” frequency rank
- #44,154
- “defiled” frequency rank
- 88307
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | defile | defiled |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To make (someone or something) physically dirty or unclean; to befoul, to soil. | Impure; dirty. |
Where the eye mixes defile and defiled
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. defile runs 6 letters (CVCVCV) against defiled's 7 (CVCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between defile and defiled
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: defile is /dɪˈfaɪl/ while defiled is [dɪˈfaɪ(jə)ɫd]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “defile” sits inside “defiled”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 88307, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
defile is recorded at frequency rank #44,153, classified as averb, pronounced /dɪˈfaɪl/. 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 88307, this pair ranks #6,515 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of defile vs defiled
Shared letters: defil. Private to "defile": -. Private to "defiled": -.
"defile" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV · "defiled" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "defile" and "defiled" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "defile" or "defiled"?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "defile" 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 #6,515 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "defile" and "defiled" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "defiled vs derided". 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 #6,515 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.