Which to use
“feed” and “filed” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #2,155
- “feed” frequency rank
- #3,058
- “filed” frequency rank
- 5213
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | feed | filed |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To give (someone or something) food to eat. | simple past and past participle of file |
Where the eye mixes feed and filed
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
A purely visual mix-up. feed (/ˈfiːd/) and filed (/faɪld/) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 5213, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
feed is recorded at frequency rank #2,155, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈfiːd/. filed is at rank #3,058, tagged as averb, pronounced /faɪld/.
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 5213, this pair ranks #516,166 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of feed vs filed
Shared letters: def. Private to "feed": -. Private to "filed": il.
"feed" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "filed" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC