Which to use
“suspend” is a verb and “suspended” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #11,619
- “suspend” frequency rank
- #4,193
- “suspended” frequency rank
- 15812
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | suspend | suspended |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To halt something temporarily. | Caused to stop for a while; interrupted or delayed. |
Where the eye mixes suspend and suspended
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses suspend with suspended
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: suspend is /səsˈpɛnd/ while suspended is /səˈspɛndɪd/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “suspend” sits inside “suspended”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 15812, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
suspend is recorded at frequency rank #11,619, classified as averb, pronounced /səsˈpɛnd/. suspended is at rank #4,193, tagged as anadj, pronounced /səˈspɛndɪd/.
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 15812, this pair ranks #461,646 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of suspend vs suspended
Shared letters: denpsu. Private to "suspend": -. Private to "suspended": -.
"suspend" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC · "suspended" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "suspend" for "suspended" ever safe?
Frequency check: "suspend" vs "suspended" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "suspend" and "suspended" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "suspend" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "suspended" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #461,646 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "suspend" and "suspended" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "suspended vs suspenders". 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 #461,646 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.