Which to use
“fail” and “failed” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #2,441
- “fail” frequency rank
- #1,596
- “failed” frequency rank
- 4037
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fail | failed |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To be unsuccessful. | simple past and past participle of fail |
Where the eye mixes fail and failed
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
A purely visual mix-up. fail (/feɪl/) and failed (/feɪld/) 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) - “fail” sits inside “failed”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 4037, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fail is recorded at frequency rank #2,441, classified as averb, pronounced /feɪl/. failed is at rank #1,596, tagged as averb, pronounced /feɪld/.
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 4037, this pair ranks #520,202 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of fail vs failed
Shared letters: afil. Private to "fail": -. Private to "failed": de.
"fail" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "failed" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC