Which to use
“smudge” is a noun and “smudged” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #36,762
- “smudge” frequency rank
- #49,053
- “smudged” frequency rank
- 85815
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | smudge | smudged |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A blemish or smear, especially a dark or sooty one. | Blurred as by being rubbed. |
Letter map: smudge vs smudged
Shared letters muted; letters that set smudge and smudged apart highlighted. Shared run: 6. smudge runs 6 letters (CCVCCV) against smudged's 7 (CCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Role in the sentence - smudge and smudged
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: smudge is anoun and smudgedanadjective. On the page they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “smudge” sits inside “smudged”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 85815, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
smudge is recorded at frequency rank #36,762, classified as anoun, pronounced /smʌd͡ʒ/. smudged is at rank #49,053, 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 85815, this pair ranks #9,821 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of smudge vs smudged
Shared letters: degmsu. Private to "smudge": -. Private to "smudged": -.
"smudge" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV · "smudged" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "smudge" and "smudged" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "smudge" vs "smudged" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
You've compared "smudge" and "smudged". Here's where to go from here.
- Full dictionary entry for "smudge" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "smudged" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #9,821 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "smudge" and "smudged" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "smudged vs surged". 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 #9,821 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.