Which to use
“hedge” is a noun and “hedged” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #10,554
- “hedge” frequency rank
- #49,386
- “hedged” frequency rank
- 59940
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | hedge | hedged |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A thicket of bushes or other shrubbery, especially one planted as a fence between two portions of land, or to separate the parts of a garden. | simple past and past participle of hedge |
Where the eye mixes hedge and hedged
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. hedge runs 5 letters (CVCCV) against hedged's 6 (CVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses hedge with hedged
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: hedge is /ˈhɛd͡ʒ/ while hedged is /hɛd͡ʒd/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “hedge” sits inside “hedged”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 59940, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
hedge is recorded at frequency rank #10,554, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈhɛd͡ʒ/. hedged is at rank #49,386, tagged as averb, pronounced /hɛd͡ʒd/.
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 59940, this pair ranks #103,173 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of hedge vs hedged
Shared letters: degh. Private to "hedge": -. Private to "hedged": -.
"hedge" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "hedged" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "hedge" for "hedged" ever safe?
Frequency check: "hedge" vs "hedged" - 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 "hedge" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "hedged" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #103,173 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "hedge" and "hedged" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hedged vs heeded". 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 #103,173 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.