Which to use
“pleated” and “pledged” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #40,394
- “pleated” frequency rank
- #12,299
- “pledged” frequency rank
- 52693
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pleated | pledged |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of pleat | simple past and past participle of pledge |
Where the eye mixes pleated and pledged
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: pleated vs pledged
A purely visual mix-up. pleated (/ˈpliːtɪd/) and pledged (/plɛd͡ʒd/) 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 52693, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
pleated is recorded at frequency rank #40,394, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈpliːtɪd/. pledged is at rank #12,299, tagged as averb, pronounced /plɛd͡ʒd/.
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 52693, this pair ranks #154,959 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of pleated vs pledged
Shared letters: delp. Private to "pleated": at. Private to "pledged": g.
"pleated" · 7 letters · shape CCVVCVC · "pledged" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "pleated" for "pledged" ever safe?
Which is more common, "pleated" or "pledged"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "pleated" and "pledged" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "pleated" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "pledged" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #154,959 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pleated" and "pledged" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pleaser vs pleated". 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 #154,959 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.