Which to use
“proud” is an adjective and “proved” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #1,735
- “proud” frequency rank
- #3,126
- “proved” frequency rank
- 4861
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | proud | proved |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Feeling honoured (by something); feeling happy or satisfied about an event or fact; gratified. | simple past and past participle of prove |
Where the eye mixes proud and proved
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: proud is /pɹaʊd/ while proved is /ˈpɹuːvd/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 4861, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
proud is recorded at frequency rank #1,735, classified as anadj, pronounced /pɹaʊd/. 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 4861, this pair ranks #517,418 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of proud vs proved
Shared letters: dopr. Private to "proud": u. Private to "proved": ev.
"proud" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC · "proved" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC