Which to use
“feared” and “flawed” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #7,792
- “feared” frequency rank
- #10,848
- “flawed” frequency rank
- 18640
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | feared | flawed |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pertaining to someone or thing that causes great fear in others. | Having a flaw or imperfection. |
Where the eye mixes feared and flawed
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses feared with flawed
A purely visual mix-up. feared (/fɪɹd/) and flawed (/flɔːd/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 18640, 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/. flawed is at rank #10,848, tagged as anadj, pronounced /flɔːd/.
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 18640, this pair ranks #443,549 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of feared vs flawed
Shared letters: adef. Private to "feared": r. Private to "flawed": lw.
"feared" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC · "flawed" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "feared" and "flawed" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "feared" or "flawed"?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "feared" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "flawed" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #443,549 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "feared" and "flawed" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "flaked vs flawed". 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 #443,549 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.