Which to use
“implied” is an adjective and “implies” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #7,929
- “implied” frequency rank
- #7,350
- “implies” frequency rank
- 15279
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | implied | implies |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Suggested without being stated directly; implicated or hinted at. | third-person singular simple present indicative of imply |
Where the eye mixes implied and implies
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: implied vs implies
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: implied is /ɪmˈplaɪd/ while implies is /ɪmˈplaɪz/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - d in “implied” becomes s in “implies”, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 15279, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
implied is recorded at frequency rank #7,929, classified as anadj, pronounced /ɪmˈplaɪd/. implies is at rank #7,350, tagged as averb, pronounced /ɪmˈplaɪz/.
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 15279, this pair ranks #464,979 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of implied vs implies
Shared letters: eilmp. Private to "implied": d. Private to "implies": s.
"implied" · 7 letters · shape VCCCVVC · "implies" · 7 letters · shape VCCCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "implied" and "implies" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "implied" or "implies" show up more?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "implied" and "implies" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "implied" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "implies" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #464,979 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "implied" and "implies" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "impaled vs implied". 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 #464,979 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.