precedevspricedWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“precede” and “priced” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#34,642
“precede” frequency rank
#7,485
“priced” frequency rank
42127
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature precede priced
Definition To go before, go in front of. simple past and past participle of price

Where the eye mixes precede and priced

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. precede runs 7 letters (CCVCVCV) against priced's 6 (CCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
precede
6 ch
priced

Look-alike desk: precede vs priced

A purely visual mix-up. precede (/pɹɪˈsiːd/) and priced (/pɹaɪst/) 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 42127, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

precede is recorded at frequency rank #34,642, classified as averb, pronounced /pɹɪˈsiːd/. priced is at rank #7,485, tagged as averb, pronounced /pɹaɪst/.

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 42127, this pair ranks #252,066 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of precede vs priced

Shared letters: cdepr. Private to "precede": -. Private to "priced": i.

"precede" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVCV  ·  "priced" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • precede ← percede · pprecede · prceede · preccede · precdee · precedde · preceed · preecde
  • priced ← pirced · ppriced · prcied · pricced · pricde · pricedd · priecd · prriced

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "precede" and "priced" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/pɹɪˈsiːd/ versus /pɹaɪst/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "precede" vs "priced" - which ranks higher?
"priced" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,485 in our English list, against #34,642 for "precede". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "precede" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "priced" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #252,066 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "precede" and "priced" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "precede vs precept". 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 #252,066 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list