Which to use
“filed” is a verb and “filled” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #3,058
- “filed” frequency rank
- #2,041
- “filled” frequency rank
- 5099
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | filed | filled |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of file | That is now full. |
Where the eye mixes filed and filled
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: filed is /faɪld/ while filled is /fɪld/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 5099, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
filed is recorded at frequency rank #3,058, classified as averb, pronounced /faɪld/. filled is at rank #2,041, tagged as anadj, pronounced /fɪld/.
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 5099, this pair ranks #516,591 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of filed vs filled
Shared letters: defil. Private to "filed": -. Private to "filled": -.
"filed" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "filled" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC