Which to use
“flawed” is an adjective and “fled” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #10,848
- “flawed” frequency rank
- #6,573
- “fled” frequency rank
- 17421
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | flawed | fled |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Having a flaw or imperfection. | simple past and past participle of flee |
Where the eye mixes flawed and fled
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between flawed and fled
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: flawed is /flɔːd/ while fled is /ˈflɛd/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 17421, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
flawed is recorded at frequency rank #10,848, classified as anadj, pronounced /flɔːd/. fled is at rank #6,573, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈflɛd/.
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 17421, this pair ranks #451,525 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of flawed vs fled
Shared letters: defl. Private to "flawed": aw. Private to "fled": -.
"flawed" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC · "fled" · 4 letters · shape CCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "flawed" and "fled" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "flawed" or "fled"?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "flawed" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "fled" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #451,525 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "flawed" and "fled" 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 #451,525 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.