Which to use
“frown” is a noun and “frowned” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #20,641
- “frown” frequency rank
- #21,218
- “frowned” frequency rank
- 41859
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | frown | frowned |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A wrinkling of the forehead with the eyebrows brought together, typically indicating displeasure, severity, or concentration. | simple past and past participle of frown |
Where the eye mixes frown and frowned
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. frown runs 5 letters (CCVCC) against frowned's 7 (CCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses frown with frowned
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: frown is /fɹaʊn/ while frowned is /fɹaʊnd/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “frown” sits inside “frowned”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 41859, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
frown is recorded at frequency rank #20,641, classified as anoun, pronounced /fɹaʊn/. frowned is at rank #21,218, tagged as averb, pronounced /fɹaʊnd/.
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 41859, this pair ranks #254,484 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of frown vs frowned
Shared letters: fnorw. Private to "frown": -. Private to "frowned": de.
"frown" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC · "frowned" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "frown" for "frowned" ever safe?
Frequency check: "frown" vs "frowned" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "frown" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "frowned" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #254,484 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "frown" and "frowned" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Frome vs frown". 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 #254,484 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.