Which to use
“tried” is an adjective and “turned” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #724
- “tried” frequency rank
- #859
- “turned” frequency rank
- 1583
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | tried | turned |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Tested, hence, proven to be firm or reliable. | simple past and past participle of turn |
Where the eye mixes tried and turned
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: tried is /tɹaɪd/ while turned is /tɜːnd/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 1583, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
tried is recorded at frequency rank #724, classified as anadj, pronounced /tɹaɪd/. turned is at rank #859, tagged as averb, pronounced /tɜːnd/.
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 1583, this pair ranks #527,118 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of tried vs turned
Shared letters: dert. Private to "tried": i. Private to "turned": nu.
"tried" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC · "turned" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC