Which to use
“flees” and “freed” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #33,653
- “flees” frequency rank
- #8,931
- “freed” frequency rank
- 42584
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | flees | freed |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | third-person singular simple present indicative of flee | simple past and past participle of free |
Where the eye mixes flees and freed
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. flees and freed follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between flees and freed
A purely visual mix-up. flees (/ˈfliːz/) and freed (/fɹiːd/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42584, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
flees is recorded at frequency rank #33,653, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈfliːz/. freed is at rank #8,931, tagged as averb, pronounced /fɹiːd/.
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 42584, this pair ranks #247,853 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of flees vs freed
Shared letters: ef. Private to "flees": ls. Private to "freed": dr.
"flees" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC · "freed" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "flees" and "freed" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "flees" vs "freed" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "flees" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "freed" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #247,853 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "flees" and "freed" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fleck vs flees". 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 #247,853 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.