Which to use
“pursue” and “pursued” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #4,624
- “pursue” frequency rank
- #8,474
- “pursued” frequency rank
- 13098
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pursue | pursued |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To follow urgently, originally with intent to capture or harm; to chase. | simple past and past participle of pursue |
Where the eye mixes pursue and pursued
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. pursue runs 6 letters (CVCCVV) against pursued's 7 (CVCCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses pursue with pursued
A purely visual mix-up. pursue (/pəˈsjuː/) and pursued (/pəˈsjuːd/) 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 extra letter(s) - “pursue” sits inside “pursued”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13098, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
pursue is recorded at frequency rank #4,624, classified as averb, pronounced /pəˈsjuː/. pursued is at rank #8,474, tagged as averb, pronounced /pəˈsjuːd/.
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 13098, this pair ranks #477,784 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of pursue vs pursued
Shared letters: eprsu. Private to "pursue": -. Private to "pursued": d.
"pursue" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV · "pursued" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "pursue" and "pursued" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "pursue" or "pursued"?
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 "pursue" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "pursued" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #477,784 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pursue" and "pursued" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "perdue vs pursue". 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 #477,784 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.