Which to use
“sends” and “sent” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #5,627
- “sends” frequency rank
- #722
- “sent” frequency rank
- 6349
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | sends | sent |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | third-person singular simple present indicative of send | simple past and past participle of send |
Where the eye mixes sends and sent
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses sends with sent
A purely visual mix-up. sends (/sɛndz/) and sent (/sɛnt/) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 6349, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
sends is recorded at frequency rank #5,627, classified as averb, pronounced /sɛndz/. sent is at rank #722, tagged as averb, pronounced /sɛnt/.
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 6349, this pair ranks #511,778 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of sends vs sent
Shared letters: ens. Private to "sends": d. Private to "sent": t.
"sends" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC · "sent" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "sends" and "sent" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "sends" vs "sent" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "sends" and "sent" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "sends" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "sent" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #511,778 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "sends" and "sent" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sends vs suds". 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 #511,778 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.