Which to use
“relieve” is a verb and “relieved” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #10,117
- “relieve” frequency rank
- #7,731
- “relieved” frequency rank
- 17848
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | relieve | relieved |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To ease (a person, person's thoughts etc.) from mental distress; to stop (someone) feeling anxious or worried, to alleviate the distress of. | Experiencing or exhibiting relief; freed from stress or discomfort. |
Where the eye mixes relieve and relieved
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: relieve vs relieved
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: relieve is /ɹɪˈliːv/ while relieved is /ɹɪˈliːvd/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “relieve” sits inside “relieved”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 17848, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
relieve is recorded at frequency rank #10,117, classified as averb, pronounced /ɹɪˈliːv/. relieved is at rank #7,731, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ɹɪˈliːvd/.
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 17848, this pair ranks #448,751 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of relieve vs relieved
Shared letters: eilrv. Private to "relieve": -. Private to "relieved": d.
"relieve" · 7 letters · shape CVCVVCV · "relieved" · 8 letters · shape CVCVVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "relieve" and "relieved" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "relieve" or "relieved"?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "relieve" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "relieved" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #448,751 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "relieve" and "relieved" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "relieve vs reprieve". 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 #448,751 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.