Which to use
“establish” and “established” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #3,230
- “establish” frequency rank
- #1,336
- “established” frequency rank
- 4566
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | establish | established |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To make stable or firm; to confirm. | simple past and past participle of establish |
Where the eye mixes establish and established
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between establish and established
A purely visual mix-up. establish (/ɪˈstæb.lɪʃ/) and established (/ɪˈstæb.lɪʃt/) 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 2 extra letter(s) - “establish” sits inside “established”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 4566, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
establish is recorded at frequency rank #3,230, classified as averb, pronounced /ɪˈstæb.lɪʃ/. established is at rank #1,336, tagged as averb, pronounced /ɪˈstæb.lɪʃt/.
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 4566, this pair ranks #518,491 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of establish vs established
Shared letters: abehilst. Private to "establish": -. Private to "established": d.
"establish" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCCVCC · "established" · 11 letters · shape VCCVCCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- establish ← esatblish · esstablish · estabblish · estabilsh · establihs · establishh · establissh · establlish
- established ← esatblished · esstablished · estabblished · estabilshed · establihsed · establisehd · establishde · establishedd
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "establish" for "established" ever safe?
Which is more common, "establish" or "established"?
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 "establish" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "established" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #518,491 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- 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 #518,491 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.