Which to use
“feign” is a verb and “feigned” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #48,234
- “feign” frequency rank
- #44,200
- “feigned” frequency rank
- 92434
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | feign | feigned |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To make a false show or pretence of; to counterfeit or simulate. | Being a pretense, simulation, or counterfeit, or something false or fraudulent. |
Where the eye mixes feign and feigned
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between feign and feigned
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: feign is /feɪn/ while feigned is /ˈfeɪnd/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “feign” sits inside “feigned”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 92434, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
feign is recorded at frequency rank #48,234, classified as averb, pronounced /feɪn/. feigned is at rank #44,200, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈfeɪnd/.
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 92434, this pair ranks #2,615 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of feign vs feigned
Shared letters: efgin. Private to "feign": -. Private to "feigned": d.
"feign" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC · "feigned" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "feign" for "feigned" ever safe?
Which is more common, "feign" or "feigned"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "feign" and "feigned" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "feign" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "feigned" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #2,615 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "feign" and "feigned" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "feign vs Fenn". 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 #2,615 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.