Which to use
“phased” is a verb and “pleased” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #18,916
- “phased” frequency rank
- #3,384
- “pleased” frequency rank
- 22300
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | phased | pleased |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of phase | Happy, content. |
Where the eye mixes phased and pleased
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. phased runs 6 letters (CCVCVC) against pleased's 7 (CCVVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: phased vs pleased
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: phased is /feɪzd/ while pleased is /pliːzd/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 22300, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
phased is recorded at frequency rank #18,916, classified as averb, pronounced /feɪzd/. pleased is at rank #3,384, tagged as anadj, pronounced /pliːzd/.
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 22300, this pair ranks #417,602 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of phased vs pleased
Shared letters: adeps. Private to "phased": h. Private to "pleased": l.
"phased" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC · "pleased" · 7 letters · shape CCVVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "phased" and "pleased" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "phased" or "pleased"?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "phased" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "pleased" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #417,602 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "phased" and "pleased" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "phage vs phased". 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 #417,602 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.