Which to use
“rained” and “retained” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #19,430
- “rained” frequency rank
- #6,409
- “retained” frequency rank
- 25839
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | rained | retained |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of rain | simple past and past participle of retain |
Where the eye mixes rained and retained
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: rained vs retained
A purely visual mix-up. rained (/ɹeɪnd/) and retained (/ɹɪˈteɪnd/) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 25839, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
rained is recorded at frequency rank #19,430, classified as averb, pronounced /ɹeɪnd/. retained is at rank #6,409, tagged as averb, pronounced /ɹɪˈteɪnd/.
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 25839, this pair ranks #391,248 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of rained vs retained
Shared letters: adeinr. Private to "rained": -. Private to "retained": t.
"rained" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC · "retained" · 8 letters · shape CVCVVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "rained" for "retained" ever safe?
Which is more common, "rained" or "retained"?
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 "rained" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "retained" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #391,248 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "rained" and "retained" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "rained vs ramped". 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 #391,248 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.