Which to use
“reveal” is a noun and “revealed” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #3,450
- “reveal” frequency rank
- #2,268
- “revealed” frequency rank
- 5718
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | reveal | revealed |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | The outer side of a window or door frame. | Of or pertaining to the revelations of a divinity to humankind. |
Where the eye mixes reveal and revealed
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. reveal runs 6 letters (CVCVVC) against revealed's 8 (CVCVVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses reveal with revealed
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: reveal is /ɹɪˈviːl/ while revealed is /ɹəˈviːld/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “reveal” sits inside “revealed”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 5718, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
reveal is recorded at frequency rank #3,450, classified as anoun, pronounced /ɹɪˈviːl/. revealed is at rank #2,268, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ɹəˈviːld/.
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 5718, this pair ranks #514,258 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of reveal vs revealed
Shared letters: aelrv. Private to "reveal": -. Private to "revealed": d.
"reveal" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC · "revealed" · 8 letters · shape CVCVVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "reveal" and "revealed" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "reveal" vs "revealed" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "reveal" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "revealed" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #514,258 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "reveal" and "revealed" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "reheat vs reveal". 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 #514,258 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.