displacevsdisplayedWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“displace” and “displayed” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#30,005
“displace” frequency rank
#5,320
“displayed” frequency rank
35325
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature displace displayed
Definition To put out of place; to disarrange. simple past and past participle of display

Where the eye mixes displace and displayed

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.

8 ch
displace
9 ch
displayed

Look-alike desk: displace vs displayed

A purely visual mix-up. displace (/dɪsˈpleɪs/) and displayed (/dɪsˈpleɪd/) 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 35325, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

displace is recorded at frequency rank #30,005, classified as averb, pronounced /dɪsˈpleɪs/. displayed is at rank #5,320, tagged as averb, pronounced /dɪsˈpleɪd/.

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 35325, this pair ranks #312,936 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of displace vs displayed

Shared letters: adeilps. Private to "displace": c. Private to "displayed": y.

"displace" · 8 letters · shape CVCCCVCV  ·  "displayed" · 9 letters · shape CVCCCVVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • displaceddisplace · dipslace · dislpace · dispalce · displacce · displaec · displcae · displlace
  • displayedddisplayed · dipslayed · dislpayed · dispalyed · displaeyd · displayde · displayedd · displayyed

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "displace" and "displayed" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/dɪsˈpleɪs/ versus /dɪsˈpleɪd/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "displace" vs "displayed" - which ranks higher?
"displayed" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,320 in our English list, against #30,005 for "displace". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "displace" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "displayed" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #312,936 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "displace" and "displayed" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "disgrace vs displace". 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 #312,936 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list