Which to use
“puffed” and “puffs” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #32,990
- “puffed” frequency rank
- #26,214
- “puffs” frequency rank
- 59204
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | puffed | puffs |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of puff | third-person singular simple present indicative of puff |
Where the eye mixes puffed and puffs
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: puffed vs puffs
A purely visual mix-up. puffed (/pʌft/) and puffs (/pʌfs/) 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 59204, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
puffed is recorded at frequency rank #32,990, classified as averb, pronounced /pʌft/. puffs is at rank #26,214, tagged as averb, pronounced /pʌfs/.
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 59204, this pair ranks #107,654 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of puffed vs puffs
Shared letters: fpu. Private to "puffed": de. Private to "puffs": s.
"puffed" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "puffs" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "puffed" for "puffs" ever safe?
Which is more common, "puffed" or "puffs"?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "puffed" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "puffs" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #107,654 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "puffed" and "puffs" 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 #107,654 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.