Which to use
“roar” and “roared” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #11,282
- “roar” frequency rank
- #27,997
- “roared” frequency rank
- 39279
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | roar | roared |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To make a loud, deep cry, especially from pain, anger, or other strong emotion. | simple past and past participle of roar |
Where the eye mixes roar and roared
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses roar with roared
A purely visual mix-up. roar (/ɹɔː/) and roared (/ɹɔːd/) 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 2 extra letter(s) - “roar” sits inside “roared”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39279, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
roar is recorded at frequency rank #11,282, classified as averb, pronounced /ɹɔː/. roared is at rank #27,997, tagged as averb, pronounced /ɹɔːd/.
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 39279, this pair ranks #278,122 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of roar vs roared
Shared letters: aor. Private to "roar": -. Private to "roared": de.
"roar" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "roared" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "roar" and "roared" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "roar" or "roared"?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "roar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "roared" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #278,122 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "roar" and "roared" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "roared vs roused". 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 #278,122 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.