Which to use
“sneak” is a noun and “sneaked” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #7,287
- “sneak” frequency rank
- #35,521
- “sneaked” frequency rank
- 42808
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | sneak | sneaked |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | One who sneaks; one who moves stealthily to acquire an item or information. | simple past and past participle of sneak |
Letter map: sneak vs sneaked
Shared letters muted; letters that set sneak and sneaked apart highlighted. Shared run: 5. sneak runs 5 letters (CCVVC) against sneaked's 7 (CCVVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Grammar separator: sneak vs sneaked
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: sneak is anoun and sneakedaverb. On the page they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “sneak” sits inside “sneaked”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42808, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
sneak is recorded at frequency rank #7,287, classified as anoun, pronounced /sniːk/. sneaked is at rank #35,521, tagged as averb.
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 42808, this pair ranks #245,906 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of sneak vs sneaked
Shared letters: aekns. Private to "sneak": -. Private to "sneaked": d.
"sneak" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC · "sneaked" · 7 letters · shape CCVVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "sneak" and "sneaked" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary English text, does "sneak" or "sneaked" show up more?
Useful next steps
Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "sneak" and "sneaked".
- Full dictionary entry for "sneak" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "sneaked" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #245,906 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "sneak" and "sneaked" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "seared vs sneaked". 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 #245,906 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.