Which to use
“detain” is a verb and “detained” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #22,056
- “detain” frequency rank
- #9,456
- “detained” frequency rank
- 31512
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | detain | detained |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To keep something from proceeding or coming to completion; to delay. | Delayed or held back; kept from proceeding. |
Where the eye mixes detain and detained
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: detain vs detained
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: detain is /dɪˈteɪn/ while detained is /dɪˈteɪnd/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “detain” sits inside “detained”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 31512, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
detain is recorded at frequency rank #22,056, classified as averb, pronounced /dɪˈteɪn/. detained is at rank #9,456, tagged as anadj, pronounced /dɪˈteɪnd/.
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 31512, this pair ranks #345,479 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of detain vs detained
Shared letters: adeint. Private to "detain": -. Private to "detained": -.
"detain" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC · "detained" · 8 letters · shape CVCVVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "detain" for "detained" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "detain" or "detained" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "detain" and "detained" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "detain" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "detained" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #345,479 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "detain" and "detained" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Deakin vs detain". 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 #345,479 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.