Which to use
“reduce” and “reduced” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,916
- “reduce” frequency rank
- #2,309
- “reduced” frequency rank
- 4225
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | reduce | reduced |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To bring down the size, quantity, quality, value or intensity of something; to diminish, to lower. | simple past and past participle of reduce |
Where the eye mixes reduce and reduced
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses reduce with reduced
A purely visual mix-up. reduce (/ɹɪˈd͡ʒuːs/) and reduced (/ɹɪˈdjuːst/) 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) - “reduce” sits inside “reduced”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 4225, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
reduce is recorded at frequency rank #1,916, classified as averb, pronounced /ɹɪˈd͡ʒuːs/. reduced is at rank #2,309, tagged as averb, pronounced /ɹɪˈdjuːst/.
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 4225, this pair ranks #519,595 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of reduce vs reduced
Shared letters: cderu. Private to "reduce": -. Private to "reduced": -.
"reduce" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV · "reduced" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "reduce" and "reduced" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "reduce" or "reduced" show up more?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "reduce" and "reduced" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "reduce" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "reduced" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #519,595 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "reduce" and "reduced" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "reduce vs repute". 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 #519,595 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.