Which to use
“downed” is a verb and “Downie” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #19,581
- “downed” frequency rank
- #49,881
- “Downie” frequency rank
- 69462
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | downed | Downie |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of down | A surname. |
Where the eye mixes downed and Downie
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. downed (CVCCVC) and Downie (CVCCVV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses downed with Downie
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: downed is /daʊnd/ while Downie is /ˈdaʊni/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs name), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 69462, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
downed is recorded at frequency rank #19,581, classified as averb, pronounced /daʊnd/. Downie is at rank #49,881, tagged as aname, pronounced /ˈdaʊni/.
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 69462, this pair ranks #54,461 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of downed vs Downie
Shared letters: denow. Private to "downed": -. Private to "Downie": i.
"downed" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "Downie" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "downed" and "Downie" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "downed" or "Downie"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "downed" and "Downie" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "downed" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "Downie" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #54,461 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "downed" and "Downie" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Dottie vs Downie". 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 #54,461 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.