Which to use
“hedged” is a verb and “hedges” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #49,386
- “hedged” frequency rank
- #20,376
- “hedges” frequency rank
- 69762
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | hedged | hedges |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of hedge | plural of hedge |
Where the eye mixes hedged and hedges
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. hedged and hedges follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses hedged with hedges
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: hedged is /hɛd͡ʒd/ while hedges is /ˈhɛd͡ʒɪz/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - d in “hedged” becomes s in “hedges”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 69762, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
hedged is recorded at frequency rank #49,386, classified as averb, pronounced /hɛd͡ʒd/. hedges is at rank #20,376, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈhɛd͡ʒɪz/.
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 69762, this pair ranks #53,237 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of hedged vs hedges
Shared letters: degh. Private to "hedged": -. Private to "hedges": s.
"hedged" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "hedges" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "hedged" and "hedges" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary English text, does "hedged" or "hedges" show up more?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "hedged" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "hedges" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #53,237 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "hedged" and "hedges" 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 #53,237 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.