Which to use
“opened” and “owned” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,490
- “opened” frequency rank
- #1,800
- “owned” frequency rank
- 3290
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | opened | owned |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of open | simple past and past participle of own |
Where the eye mixes opened and owned
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between opened and owned
A purely visual mix-up. opened (/ˈoʊpənd/) and owned (/əʊnd/) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 3290, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
opened is recorded at frequency rank #1,490, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈoʊpənd/. owned is at rank #1,800, tagged as averb, pronounced /əʊnd/.
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 3290, this pair ranks #522,545 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of opened vs owned
Shared letters: deno. Private to "opened": p. Private to "owned": w.
"opened" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVC · "owned" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "opened" for "owned" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "opened" or "owned" show up more?
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 "opened" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "owned" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #522,545 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "opened" and "owned" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Olney vs owned". 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 #522,545 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.