Which to use
“reach” and “reached” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,233
- “reach” frequency rank
- #1,495
- “reached” frequency rank
- 2728
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | reach | reached |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To extend, stretch, or thrust out (for example a limb or object held in the hand). | simple past and past participle of reach |
Where the eye mixes reach and reached
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. reach runs 5 letters (CVVCC) against reached's 7 (CVVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between reach and reached
A purely visual mix-up. reach (/ɹiːt͡ʃ/) and reached (/ɹiːt͡ʃt/) 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) - “reach” sits inside “reached”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 2728, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
reach is recorded at frequency rank #1,233, classified as averb, pronounced /ɹiːt͡ʃ/. reached is at rank #1,495, tagged as averb, pronounced /ɹiːt͡ʃt/.
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 2728, this pair ranks #524,198 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of reach vs reached
Shared letters: acehr. Private to "reach": -. Private to "reached": d.
"reach" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC · "reached" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "reach" and "reached" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "reach" or "reached"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "reach" and "reached" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "reach" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "reached" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #524,198 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "reach" and "reached" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "reach vs reams". 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 #524,198 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.