Which to use
“dived” and “divide” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #30,007
- “dived” frequency rank
- #5,876
- “divide” frequency rank
- 35883
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dived | divide |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of dive (scuba diving) | To split or separate (something) into two or more parts. |
Where the eye mixes dived and divide
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses dived with divide
A purely visual mix-up. dived (/ˈdaɪ̯vd/) and divide (/dɪˈvaɪd/) 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 35883, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
dived is recorded at frequency rank #30,007, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈdaɪ̯vd/. divide is at rank #5,876, tagged as averb, pronounced /dɪˈvaɪd/.
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 35883, this pair ranks #308,105 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of dived vs divide
Shared letters: deiv. Private to "dived": -. Private to "divide": -.
"dived" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "divide" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "dived" and "divide" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "dived" or "divide"?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "dived" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "divide" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #308,105 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dived" and "divide" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dimer vs dived". 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 #308,105 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.