Which to use
“pleaded” and “please” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #11,939
- “pleaded” frequency rank
- #208
- “please” frequency rank
- 12147
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pleaded | please |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of plead | To make happy or satisfy; to give pleasure to. |
Where the eye mixes pleaded and please
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses pleaded with please
A purely visual mix-up. pleaded (/ˈpliːdɪd/) and please (/pliːz/) 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 12147, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
pleaded is recorded at frequency rank #11,939, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈpliːdɪd/. please is at rank #208, tagged as averb, pronounced /pliːz/.
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 12147, this pair ranks #483,179 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of pleaded vs please
Shared letters: aelp. Private to "pleaded": d. Private to "please": s.
"pleaded" · 7 letters · shape CCVVCVC · "please" · 6 letters · shape CCVVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "pleaded" for "please" ever safe?
Which is more common, "pleaded" or "please"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "pleaded" and "please" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "pleaded" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "please" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #483,179 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pleaded" and "please" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pleaded vs pleaser". 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 #483,179 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.