Which to use
“hang” and “hanged” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #2,487
- “hang” frequency rank
- #13,730
- “hanged” frequency rank
- 16217
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | hang | hanged |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To be or remain suspended. | simple past and past participle of hang (now only when referring to the method of execution, elsewhere hung is used) |
Where the eye mixes hang and hanged
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between hang and hanged
A purely visual mix-up. hang (/ˈhæŋ/) and hanged (/ˈhæŋd/) 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 extra letter(s) - “hang” sits inside “hanged”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 16217, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
hang is recorded at frequency rank #2,487, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈhæŋ/. hanged is at rank #13,730, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈhæŋd/.
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 16217, this pair ranks #459,140 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of hang vs hanged
Shared letters: aghn. Private to "hang": -. Private to "hanged": de.
"hang" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "hanged" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "hang" and "hanged" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "hang" or "hanged" show up more?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "hang" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "hanged" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #459,140 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "hang" and "hanged" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hanged vs hedged". 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 #459,140 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.