Which to use
“derailed” is a verb and “derided” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #25,032
- “derailed” frequency rank
- #38,363
- “derided” frequency rank
- 63395
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | derailed | derided |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of derail | Disparaged; subject to criticism or mockery. |
Letter map: derailed vs derided
Shared letters muted; letters that set derailed and derided apart highlighted. Shared run: 6.
Part-of-speech tell for derailed / derided
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: derailed is averb and deridedanadjective. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 63395, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
derailed is recorded at frequency rank #25,032, classified as averb. derided is at rank #38,363, tagged as anadj.
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 63395, this pair ranks #83,238 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of derailed vs derided
Shared letters: deir. Private to "derailed": al. Private to "derided": -.
"derailed" · 8 letters · shape CVCVVCVC · "derided" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "derailed" and "derided" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "derailed" or "derided"?
After this comparison
Pair "derailed" vs "derided" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.
- Full dictionary entry for "derailed" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "derided" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #83,238 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "derailed" and "derided" 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 #83,238 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.