Which to use
“sped” is a verb and “speedy” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #20,782
- “sped” frequency rank
- #12,144
- “speedy” frequency rank
- 32926
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | sped | speedy |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of speed | Proceeding with or characterized by high speed; rapid. |
Where the eye mixes sped and speedy
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. sped runs 4 letters (CCVC) against speedy's 6 (CCVVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses sped with speedy
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: sped is /spɛd/ while speedy is /ˈspiː.di/. 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 adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 32926, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
sped is recorded at frequency rank #20,782, classified as averb, pronounced /spɛd/. speedy is at rank #12,144, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈspiː.di/.
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 32926, this pair ranks #333,735 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of sped vs speedy
Shared letters: deps. Private to "sped": -. Private to "speedy": y.
"sped" · 4 letters · shape CCVC · "speedy" · 6 letters · shape CCVVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "sped" and "speedy" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "sped" or "speedy"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "sped" and "speedy" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "sped" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "speedy" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #333,735 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "sped" and "speedy" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sez vs sped". 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 #333,735 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.