Which to use
“defiled” and “detailed” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #44,154
- “defiled” frequency rank
- #2,942
- “detailed” frequency rank
- 47096
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | defiled | detailed |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Impure; dirty. | Characterized by attention to detail and thoroughness of treatment. |
Where the eye mixes defiled and detailed
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. defiled runs 7 letters (CVCVCVC) against detailed's 8 (CVCVVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between defiled and detailed
A purely visual mix-up. defiled ([dɪˈfaɪ(jə)ɫd]) and detailed (/dɪˈteɪld/) 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 47096, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
defiled is recorded at frequency rank #44,154, classified as anadj, pronounced [dɪˈfaɪ(jə)ɫd]. detailed is at rank #2,942, tagged as anadj, pronounced /dɪˈteɪld/.
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 47096, this pair ranks #205,601 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of defiled vs detailed
Shared letters: deil. Private to "defiled": f. Private to "detailed": at.
"defiled" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC · "detailed" · 8 letters · shape CVCVVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "defiled" for "detailed" ever safe?
Which is more common, "defiled" or "detailed"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "defiled" and "detailed" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "defiled" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "detailed" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #205,601 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "defiled" and "detailed" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "defile vs defiled". 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 #205,601 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.