Which to use
“padded” and “pained” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #21,891
- “padded” frequency rank
- #32,111
- “pained” frequency rank
- 54002
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | padded | pained |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Having padding. | In pain, especially in an emotional sense. |
Where the eye mixes padded and pained
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses padded with pained
A purely visual mix-up. padded (/ˈpædɪd/) and pained (/peɪnd/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 54002, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
padded is recorded at frequency rank #21,891, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈpædɪd/. pained is at rank #32,111, tagged as anadj, pronounced /peɪnd/.
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 54002, this pair ranks #144,506 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of padded vs pained
Shared letters: adep. Private to "padded": -. Private to "pained": in.
"padded" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "pained" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "padded" for "pained" ever safe?
Frequency check: "padded" vs "pained" - which ranks higher?
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 "padded" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "pained" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #144,506 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "padded" and "pained" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pained vs plied". 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 #144,506 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.