includedvsincludesWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“included” and “includes” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#993
“included” frequency rank
#1,171
“includes” frequency rank
2164
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature included includes
Definition simple past and past participle of include third-person singular simple present indicative of include

Where the eye mixes included and includes

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.

8 ch
included
8 ch
includes

Why the eye confuses included with includes

A purely visual mix-up. included (/ɪnˈkluːdɪd/) and includes (/ɪnˈkluːdz/) 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 a single letter - d in “included” becomes s in “includes”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 2164, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

included is recorded at frequency rank #993, classified as averb, pronounced /ɪnˈkluːdɪd/. includes is at rank #1,171, tagged as averb, pronounced /ɪnˈkluːdz/.

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 2164, this pair ranks #525,705 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of included vs includes

Shared letters: cdeilnu. Private to "included": -. Private to "includes": s.

"included" · 8 letters · shape VCCCVCVC  ·  "includes" · 8 letters · shape VCCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • includedicnluded · inccluded · incldued · inclluded · includded · includedd · incluedd · inculded
  • includesicnludes · inccludes · incldues · inclludes · includdes · includess · includse · inclueds

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "included" and "includes" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/ɪnˈkluːdɪd/ versus /ɪnˈkluːdz/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "included" vs "includes" - which ranks higher?
"included" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #993 in our English list, against #1,171 for "includes". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "included" and "includes" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "included" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "includes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #525,705 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "included" and "includes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "inclined vs included". 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 #525,705 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list