Which to use
“supplied” and “supplies” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #4,802
- “supplied” frequency rank
- #3,141
- “supplies” frequency rank
- 7943
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | supplied | supplies |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of supply | third-person singular simple present indicative of supply |
Where the eye mixes supplied and supplies
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. supplied and supplies follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCCVVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses supplied with supplies
A purely visual mix-up. supplied (/səˈplaɪd/) and supplies (/səˈplaɪz/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by a single letter - d in “supplied” becomes s in “supplies”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 7943, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
supplied is recorded at frequency rank #4,802, classified as averb, pronounced /səˈplaɪd/. supplies is at rank #3,141, tagged as averb, pronounced /səˈplaɪz/.
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 7943, this pair ranks #504,850 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of supplied vs supplies
Shared letters: eilpsu. Private to "supplied": d. Private to "supplies": -.
"supplied" · 8 letters · shape CVCCCVVC · "supplies" · 8 letters · shape CVCCCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "supplied" for "supplies" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "supplied" or "supplies" show up more?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "supplied" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "supplies" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #504,850 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "supplied" and "supplies" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "supple vs supplied". 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 #504,850 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.