Which to use
“explode” is a verb and “exploded” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #9,605
- “explode” frequency rank
- #10,044
- “exploded” frequency rank
- 19649
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | explode | exploded |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To fly apart with sudden violent force; to blow up, to burst, to detonate, to go off. | Having been subjected to an explosion; blown up. |
Letter map: explode vs exploded
Shared letters muted; letters that set explode and exploded apart highlighted. Shared run: 7.
Part-of-speech tell for explode / exploded
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: explode is averb and explodedanadjective. On the page they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “explode” sits inside “exploded”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 19649, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
explode is recorded at frequency rank #9,605, classified as averb, pronounced /ɪkˈspləʊd/. exploded is at rank #10,044, tagged as anadj.
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 19649, this pair ranks #436,688 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of explode vs exploded
Shared letters: delopx. Private to "explode": -. Private to "exploded": -.
"explode" · 7 letters · shape VCCCVCV · "exploded" · 8 letters · shape VCCCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "explode" for "exploded" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "explode" or "exploded" show up more?
Useful next steps
You've compared "explode" and "exploded". Here's where to go from here.
- Full dictionary entry for "explode" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "exploded" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #436,688 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "explode" and "exploded" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "explode vs exposé". 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 #436,688 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.