Which to use
“nail” is a noun and “nailed” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #5,064
- “nail” frequency rank
- #10,090
- “nailed” frequency rank
- 15154
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | nail | nailed |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | The thin, horny plate at the ends of fingers and toes on humans and some other animals. | simple past and past participle of nail |
Where the spellings diverge
Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set nail and nailed apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
nail and nailed form a confusable pair in the English index, two distinct headwords that are easily confused because they look alike, sound alike, or both. They differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “nail” sits inside “nailed” - close enough that the eye skips over the difference, far enough that meaning fully diverges. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 15154, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
nail is recorded at frequency rank #5,064, classified as anoun, pronounced /neɪl/. nailed is at rank #10,090, tagged as averb, pronounced /neɪld/.
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 15154, this pair ranks #465,750 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Frequency comparison
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "nail" and "nailed" be used interchangeably?
Remembering nail vs nailed
The fastest way to pick the right one every time.
- Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “nail”; for a verb, it's “nailed”.
- See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “nail” entry
- Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable