Which to use
“publish” and “published” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #6,088
- “publish” frequency rank
- #913
- “published” frequency rank
- 7001
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | publish | published |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To issue (something, such as printed work) for distribution and/or sale. | simple past and past participle of publish |
Where the eye mixes publish and published
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: publish vs published
A purely visual mix-up. publish (/ˈpʌblɪʃ/) and published (/ˈpʌblɪʃt/) 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 2 extra letter(s) - “publish” sits inside “published”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 7001, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
publish is recorded at frequency rank #6,088, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈpʌblɪʃ/. published is at rank #913, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈpʌblɪʃt/.
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 7001, this pair ranks #509,017 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of publish vs published
Shared letters: bhilpsu. Private to "publish": -. Private to "published": de.
"publish" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC · "published" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "publish" and "published" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "publish" or "published"?
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 "publish" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "published" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #509,017 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "publish" and "published" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "publish vs purplish". 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 #509,017 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.