explodedvsexposedTell them apart

Which to use

“exploded” and “exposed” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#10,044
“exploded” frequency rank
#2,945
“exposed” frequency rank
12989
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature exploded exposed
Definition Having been subjected to an explosion; blown up. Open (especially to something), unconcealed and/or unprotected (and therefore vulnerable, susceptible).

Letter map: exploded vs exposed

Shared letters muted; letters that set exploded and exposed apart highlighted. Shared run: 6.

8 ch
exploded
7 ch
exposed

Corpus notes: exploded and exposed

exploded and exposed are indexed as a confusable English pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12989, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

exploded is recorded at frequency rank #10,044, classified as anadj. exposed is at rank #2,945, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ɪkˈspoʊzd/.

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 12989, this pair ranks #478,354 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of exploded vs exposed

Shared letters: deopx. Private to "exploded": l. Private to "exposed": s.

"exploded" · 8 letters · shape VCCCVCVC  ·  "exposed" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • explodedepxloded · exlpoded · expldoed · explloded · explodded · explodedd · exploedd · expolded
  • exposedepxosed · exopsed · expoesd · exposde · exposedd · expossed · expposed · expsoed

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "exploded" and "exposed" be used interchangeably?
No. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Frequency check: "exploded" vs "exposed" - which ranks higher?
"exposed" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,945 in our English list, against #10,044 for "exploded". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "exploded" and "exposed".

  • Full dictionary entry for "exploded" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "exposed" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #478,354 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "exploded" and "exposed" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "exposé vs exposed". 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 #478,354 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list