repliedvsrepliesWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#4,482
“replied” frequency rank
#7,732
“replies” frequency rank
12214
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature replied replies
Definition simple past and past participle of reply third-person singular simple present indicative of reply

Where the eye mixes replied and replies

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

7 ch
replied
7 ch
replies

Look-alike desk: replied vs replies

A purely visual mix-up. replied (/ɹɪˈplaɪd/) and replies (/ɹɪˈplaɪz/) 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 a single letter - d in “replied” becomes s in “replies”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12214, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

replied is recorded at frequency rank #4,482, classified as averb, pronounced /ɹɪˈplaɪd/. replies is at rank #7,732, tagged as averb, pronounced /ɹɪˈplaɪz/.

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 12214, this pair ranks #482,815 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of replied vs replies

Shared letters: eilpr. Private to "replied": d. Private to "replies": s.

"replied" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC  ·  "replies" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • repliederplied · relpied · repiled · repleid · replide · repliedd · repllied · repplied
  • replieserplies · relpies · repiles · repleis · repliess · replise · repllies · repplies

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "replied" and "replies" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/ɹɪˈplaɪd/ versus /ɹɪˈplaɪz/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "replied" vs "replies" - which ranks higher?
"replied" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,482 in our English list, against #7,732 for "replies". 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 "replied" and "replies" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "replied" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "replies" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #482,815 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "replied" and "replies" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "readied vs replied". 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 #482,815 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