Which to use
“robbed” is a verb and “robe” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #8,601
- “robbed” frequency rank
- #14,626
- “robe” frequency rank
- 23227
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | robbed | robe |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of rob | A long loose outer garment, often signifying honorary stature. |
Where the eye mixes robbed and robe
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between robbed and robe
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: robbed is /ɹɑbd/ while robe is /ɹəʊb/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 23227, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
robbed is recorded at frequency rank #8,601, classified as averb, pronounced /ɹɑbd/. robe is at rank #14,626, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ɹəʊb/.
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 23227, this pair ranks #410,810 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of robbed vs robe
Shared letters: beor. Private to "robbed": d. Private to "robe": -.
"robbed" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "robe" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "robbed" for "robe" ever safe?
Frequency check: "robbed" vs "robe" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "robbed" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "robe" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #410,810 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "robbed" and "robe" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "robe vs roque". 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 #410,810 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.