Which to use
“spend” is a verb and “spent” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #1,152
- “spend” frequency rank
- #1,029
- “spent” frequency rank
- 2181
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | spend | spent |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To pay out (money). | Consumed, used up, exhausted, depleted. |
Where the eye mixes spend and spent
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: spend is /spɛnd/ while spent is /spɛnt/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - d in “spend” becomes t in “spent”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 2181, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
spend is recorded at frequency rank #1,152, classified as averb, pronounced /spɛnd/. spent is at rank #1,029, tagged as anadj, pronounced /spɛnt/.
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 2181, this pair ranks #525,659 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of spend vs spent
Shared letters: enps. Private to "spend": d. Private to "spent": t.
"spend" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC · "spent" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC