Which to use
“loathe” is a verb and “loathed” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #25,122
- “loathe” frequency rank
- #40,782
- “loathed” frequency rank
- 65904
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | loathe | loathed |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To detest, hate, or revile (someone or something). | Nonstandard form of loath. |
Letter map: loathe vs loathed
Shared letters muted; letters that set loathe and loathed apart highlighted. Shared run: 6. loathe runs 6 letters (CVVCCV) against loathed's 7 (CVVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Part-of-speech tell for loathe / loathed
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: loathe is averb and loathedanadjective. On the page they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “loathe” sits inside “loathed”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 65904, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
loathe is recorded at frequency rank #25,122, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈləʊð/. loathed is at rank #40,782, tagged as anadj.
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 65904, this pair ranks #70,521 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of loathe vs loathed
Shared letters: aehlot. Private to "loathe": -. Private to "loathed": d.
"loathe" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV · "loathed" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "loathe" for "loathed" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "loathe" or "loathed" show up more?
What to do next
Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "loathe" and "loathed".
- Full dictionary entry for "loathe" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "loathed" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #70,521 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "loathe" and "loathed" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "loath vs loathed". 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 #70,521 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.