Which to use
“fled” and “folded” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #6,573
- “fled” frequency rank
- #9,899
- “folded” frequency rank
- 16472
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fled | folded |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of flee | simple past and past participle of fold |
Where the eye mixes fled and folded
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses fled with folded
A purely visual mix-up. fled (/ˈflɛd/) and folded (/ˈfoʊldɪd/) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 16472, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fled is recorded at frequency rank #6,573, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈflɛd/. folded is at rank #9,899, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈfoʊldɪd/.
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 16472, this pair ranks #457,533 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of fled vs folded
Shared letters: defl. Private to "fled": -. Private to "folded": o.
"fled" · 4 letters · shape CCVC · "folded" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "fled" and "folded" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "fled" or "folded"?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "fled" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "folded" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #457,533 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fled" and "folded" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "flaked vs fled". 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 #457,533 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.