Which to use
“plied” and “pulled” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #49,557
- “plied” frequency rank
- #2,172
- “pulled” frequency rank
- 51729
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | plied | pulled |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of ply | simple past and past participle of pull |
Where the eye mixes plied and pulled
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between plied and pulled
A purely visual mix-up. plied (/plaɪd/) and pulled (/pʊld/) 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 51729, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
plied is recorded at frequency rank #49,557, classified as averb, pronounced /plaɪd/. pulled is at rank #2,172, tagged as averb, pronounced /pʊld/.
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 51729, this pair ranks #163,028 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of plied vs pulled
Shared letters: delp. Private to "plied": i. Private to "pulled": u.
"plied" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC · "pulled" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "plied" and "pulled" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "plied" or "pulled"?
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 "plied" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "pulled" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #163,028 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "plied" and "pulled" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "piet vs plied". 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 #163,028 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.