Which to use
“kiss” and “kissed” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #2,586
- “kiss” frequency rank
- #7,706
- “kissed” frequency rank
- 10292
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | kiss | kissed |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To touch with the lips or press the lips against, usually to show love or affection or passion, or as part of a greeting. | simple past and past participle of kiss |
Where the eye mixes kiss and kissed
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. kiss runs 4 letters (CVCC) against kissed's 6 (CVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between kiss and kissed
A purely visual mix-up. kiss (/kɪs/) and kissed (/kɪst/) 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 2 extra letter(s) - “kiss” sits inside “kissed”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 10292, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
kiss is recorded at frequency rank #2,586, classified as averb, pronounced /kɪs/. kissed is at rank #7,706, tagged as averb, pronounced /kɪst/.
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 10292, this pair ranks #493,056 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of kiss vs kissed
Shared letters: iks. Private to "kiss": -. Private to "kissed": de.
"kiss" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "kissed" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "kiss" for "kissed" ever safe?
Which is more common, "kiss" or "kissed"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "kiss" and "kissed" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "kiss" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "kissed" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #493,056 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "kiss" and "kissed" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "kiss vs knits". 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 #493,056 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.