Which to use
“issue” is a noun and “issued” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #589
- “issue” frequency rank
- #1,902
- “issued” frequency rank
- 2491
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | issue | issued |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | The action or an instance of flowing or coming out, an outflow | simple past and past participle of issue. |
Where the eye mixes issue and issued
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between issue and issued
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: issue is /ˈɪʃuː/ while issued is /ˈɪʃud/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “issue” sits inside “issued”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 2491, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
issue is recorded at frequency rank #589, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈɪʃuː/. issued is at rank #1,902, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈɪʃud/.
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 2491, this pair ranks #524,837 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of issue vs issued
Shared letters: eisu. Private to "issue": -. Private to "issued": d.
"issue" · 5 letters · shape VCCVV · "issued" · 6 letters · shape VCCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "issue" for "issued" ever safe?
Which is more common, "issue" or "issued"?
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 "issue" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "issued" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #524,837 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "issue" and "issued" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Issac vs issue". 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 #524,837 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.