Which to use
“exceed” and “excused” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #8,033
- “exceed” frequency rank
- #20,111
- “excused” frequency rank
- 28144
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | exceed | excused |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To be larger, greater than (something). | simple past and past participle of excuse |
Where the eye mixes exceed and excused
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: exceed vs excused
A purely visual mix-up. exceed (/ɪkˈsiːd/) and excused (/ɪkˈskjuːzd/) 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 28144, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
exceed is recorded at frequency rank #8,033, classified as averb, pronounced /ɪkˈsiːd/. excused is at rank #20,111, tagged as averb, pronounced /ɪkˈskjuːzd/.
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 28144, this pair ranks #373,371 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of exceed vs excused
Shared letters: cdex. Private to "exceed": -. Private to "excused": su.
"exceed" · 6 letters · shape VCCVVC · "excused" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "exceed" and "excused" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "exceed" or "excused"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "exceed" and "excused" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "exceed" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "excused" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #373,371 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "exceed" and "excused" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "encased vs excused". 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 #373,371 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.