Which to use
“feared” is an adjective and “flamed” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #7,792
- “feared” frequency rank
- #48,238
- “flamed” frequency rank
- 56030
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | feared | flamed |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pertaining to someone or thing that causes great fear in others. | simple past and past participle of flame |
Where the eye mixes feared and flamed
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: feared vs flamed
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: feared is /fɪɹd/ while flamed is /fleɪmd/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 56030, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
feared is recorded at frequency rank #7,792, classified as anadj, pronounced /fɪɹd/. flamed is at rank #48,238, tagged as averb, pronounced /fleɪmd/.
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 56030, this pair ranks #129,211 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of feared vs flamed
Shared letters: adef. Private to "feared": r. Private to "flamed": lm.
"feared" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC · "flamed" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "feared" and "flamed" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "feared" vs "flamed" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "feared" and "flamed" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "feared" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "flamed" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #129,211 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "feared" and "flamed" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "flaked vs flamed". 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 #129,211 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.