Which to use
“posed” and “proved” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #9,510
- “posed” frequency rank
- #3,126
- “proved” frequency rank
- 12636
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | posed | proved |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of pose | simple past and past participle of prove |
Where the eye mixes posed and proved
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between posed and proved
A purely visual mix-up. posed (/pəʊzd/) and proved (/ˈpɹuːvd/) 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 12636, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
posed is recorded at frequency rank #9,510, classified as averb, pronounced /pəʊzd/. proved is at rank #3,126, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈpɹuːvd/.
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 12636, this pair ranks #480,404 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of posed vs proved
Shared letters: deop. Private to "posed": s. Private to "proved": rv.
"posed" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "proved" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "posed" and "proved" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "posed" or "proved"?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "posed" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "proved" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #480,404 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "posed" and "proved" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "plied vs posed". 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 #480,404 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.