Which to use
“teased” and “tended” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #19,229
- “teased” frequency rank
- #10,460
- “tended” frequency rank
- 29689
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | teased | tended |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of tease | simple past and past participle of tend |
Where the eye mixes teased and tended
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between teased and tended
A purely visual mix-up. teased (/tiːzd/) and tended (/ˈtɛndɪd/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 29689, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
teased is recorded at frequency rank #19,229, classified as averb, pronounced /tiːzd/. tended is at rank #10,460, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈtɛndɪd/.
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 29689, this pair ranks #360,865 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of teased vs tended
Shared letters: det. Private to "teased": as. Private to "tended": n.
"teased" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC · "tended" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "teased" for "tended" ever safe?
Frequency check: "teased" vs "tended" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "teased" and "tended" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "teased" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "tended" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #360,865 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "teased" and "tended" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "teared vs teased". 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 #360,865 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.