remainedvsremindedConfusable pair

Which to use

“remained” and “reminded” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#2,403
“remained” frequency rank
#5,448
“reminded” frequency rank
7851
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature remained reminded
Definition simple past and past participle of remain simple past and past participle of remind

Where the eye mixes remained and reminded

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.

8 ch
remained
8 ch
reminded

Why the eye confuses remained with reminded

A purely visual mix-up. remained (/ɹɪˈmeɪnd/) and reminded (/ɹəˈmaɪndɪd/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 7851, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

remained is recorded at frequency rank #2,403, classified as averb, pronounced /ɹɪˈmeɪnd/. reminded is at rank #5,448, tagged as averb, pronounced /ɹəˈmaɪndɪd/.

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 7851, this pair ranks #505,295 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of remained vs reminded

Shared letters: deimnr. Private to "remained": a. Private to "reminded": -.

"remained" · 8 letters · shape CVCVVCVC  ·  "reminded" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • remainedermained · reamined · remaiend · remainde · remainedd · remainned · remanied · remianed
  • remindederminded · reimnded · remidned · remindde · remindded · remindedd · reminedd · reminnded

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "remained" for "reminded" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ɹɪˈmeɪnd/ versus /ɹəˈmaɪndɪd/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "remained" or "reminded"?
"remained" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,403 in our English list, against #5,448 for "reminded". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "remained" and "reminded" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "remained" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "reminded" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #505,295 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "remained" and "reminded" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "remained vs romaine". 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 #505,295 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list