Which to use
“inspire” is a verb and “inspired” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #7,142
- “inspire” frequency rank
- #2,352
- “inspired” frequency rank
- 9494
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | inspire | inspired |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To infuse into the mind; to communicate to the spirit; to convey, as by a divine or supernatural influence; to disclose preternaturally; to produce in, as by inspiration. | Having excellence through inspiration. |
Where the eye mixes inspire and inspired
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. inspire runs 7 letters (VCCCVCV) against inspired's 8 (VCCCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: inspire vs inspired
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: inspire is /ɪnˈspaɪə(ɹ)/ while inspired is /ɪnˈspaɪɹd/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “inspire” sits inside “inspired”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 9494, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
inspire is recorded at frequency rank #7,142, classified as averb, pronounced /ɪnˈspaɪə(ɹ)/. inspired is at rank #2,352, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ɪnˈspaɪɹd/.
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 9494, this pair ranks #497,125 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of inspire vs inspired
Shared letters: einprs. Private to "inspire": -. Private to "inspired": d.
"inspire" · 7 letters · shape VCCCVCV · "inspired" · 8 letters · shape VCCCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "inspire" and "inspired" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "inspire" or "inspired"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "inspire" and "inspired" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "inspire" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "inspired" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #497,125 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "inspire" and "inspired" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "inshore vs inspire". 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 #497,125 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.