Which to use
“puff” is a noun and “puffed” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #13,992
- “puff” frequency rank
- #32,990
- “puffed” frequency rank
- 46982
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | puff | puffed |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A sharp exhalation of a small amount of breath through the mouth. | simple past and past participle of puff |
Where the eye mixes puff and puffed
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between puff and puffed
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: puff is /pʌf/ while puffed is /pʌft/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “puff” sits inside “puffed”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46982, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
puff is recorded at frequency rank #13,992, classified as anoun, pronounced /pʌf/. puffed is at rank #32,990, tagged as averb, pronounced /pʌft/.
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 46982, this pair ranks #206,684 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of puff vs puffed
Shared letters: fpu. Private to "puff": -. Private to "puffed": de.
"puff" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "puffed" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "puff" for "puffed" ever safe?
Frequency check: "puff" vs "puffed" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "puff" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "puffed" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #206,684 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "puff" and "puffed" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "puffed vs puffer". 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 #206,684 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.