Which to use
“kissed” is a verb and “kisses” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #7,706
- “kissed” frequency rank
- #10,570
- “kisses” frequency rank
- 18276
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | kissed | kisses |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of kiss | plural of kiss |
Where the eye mixes kissed and kisses
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. kissed and kisses follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: kissed vs kisses
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: kissed is /kɪst/ while kisses is /ˈkɪsɪz/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - d in “kissed” becomes s in “kisses”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 18276, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
kissed is recorded at frequency rank #7,706, classified as averb, pronounced /kɪst/. kisses is at rank #10,570, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈkɪsɪz/.
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 18276, this pair ranks #445,968 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of kissed vs kisses
Shared letters: eiks. Private to "kissed": d. Private to "kisses": -.
"kissed" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "kisses" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "kissed" and "kisses" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "kissed" vs "kisses" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "kissed" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "kisses" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #445,968 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "kissed" and "kisses" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "kisser vs kisses". 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 #445,968 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.