Which to use
“sever” is a verb and “severed” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #23,989
- “sever” frequency rank
- #14,412
- “severed” frequency rank
- 38401
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | sever | severed |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To cut free. | Separated, cut off or broken apart. |
Letter map: sever vs severed
Shared letters muted; letters that set sever and severed apart highlighted. Shared run: 5.
Role in the sentence - sever and severed
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: sever is averb and severedanadjective. On the page they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “sever” sits inside “severed”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 38401, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
sever is recorded at frequency rank #23,989, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈsɛv.ɚ/. severed is at rank #14,412, tagged as anadj.
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 38401, this pair ranks #286,224 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of sever vs severed
Shared letters: ersv. Private to "sever": -. Private to "severed": d.
"sever" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "severed" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "sever" and "severed" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "sever" or "severed"?
What to do next
You've compared "sever" and "severed". Here's where to go from here.
- Full dictionary entry for "sever" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "severed" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #286,224 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "sever" and "severed" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Seager vs sever". 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 #286,224 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.