Which to use
“pierce” and “pierced” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #7,958
- “pierce” frequency rank
- #15,882
- “pierced” frequency rank
- 23840
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pierce | pierced |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To puncture; to break through. | simple past and past participle of pierce |
Where the eye mixes pierce and pierced
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. pierce runs 6 letters (CVVCCV) against pierced's 7 (CVVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: pierce vs pierced
A purely visual mix-up. pierce (/pɪɹs/) and pierced (/pɪɹst/) 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 extra letter(s) - “pierce” sits inside “pierced”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 23840, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
pierce is recorded at frequency rank #7,958, classified as averb, pronounced /pɪɹs/. pierced is at rank #15,882, tagged as averb, pronounced /pɪɹst/.
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 23840, this pair ranks #406,341 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of pierce vs pierced
Shared letters: ceipr. Private to "pierce": -. Private to "pierced": d.
"pierce" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV · "pierced" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "pierce" for "pierced" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "pierce" or "pierced" show up more?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "pierce" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "pierced" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #406,341 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pierce" and "pierced" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Peirce vs pierce". 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 #406,341 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.