Which to use
“focus” is a noun and “focused” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #1,077
- “focus” frequency rank
- #2,253
- “focused” frequency rank
- 3330
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | focus | focused |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A point at which reflected or refracted rays of light converge. | Directing all one's efforts towards achieving a particular goal. |
Where the spellings diverge
Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set focus and focused apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
focus and focused form a confusable pair in the English index, two distinct headwords that are easily confused because they look alike, sound alike, or both. They differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “focus” sits inside “focused” - close enough that the eye skips over the difference, far enough that meaning fully diverges. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 3330, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
focus is recorded at frequency rank #1,077, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈfəʊ.kəs/. focused is at rank #2,253, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈfəʊ.kəst/.
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 3330, this pair ranks #522,425 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Frequency comparison
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "focus" and "focused" be used interchangeably?
Remembering focus vs focused
The fastest way to pick the right one every time.
- Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “focus”; for an adjective, it's “focused”.
- See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “focus” entry
- Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable