Which to use
“pare” and “parted” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #37,620
- “pare” frequency rank
- #16,296
- “parted” frequency rank
- 53916
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pare | parted |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To remove the outer covering or skin of something with a cutting device, typically a knife. | simple past and past participle of part |
Where the eye mixes pare and parted
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. pare runs 4 letters (CVCV) against parted's 6 (CVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: pare vs parted
A purely visual mix-up. pare (/pɛə/) and parted (/ˈpɑɹtɪd/) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 53916, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
pare is recorded at frequency rank #37,620, classified as averb, pronounced /pɛə/. parted is at rank #16,296, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈpɑɹtɪd/.
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 53916, this pair ranks #145,135 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of pare vs parted
Shared letters: aepr. Private to "pare": -. Private to "parted": dt.
"pare" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "parted" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "pare" and "parted" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "pare" or "parted"?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "pare" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "parted" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #145,135 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pare" and "parted" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pare vs Pyke". 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 #145,135 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.