Which to use
“turn” and “turned” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #484
- “turn” frequency rank
- #859
- “turned” frequency rank
- 1343
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | turn | turned |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To make a non-linear physical movement. | simple past and past participle of turn |
Where the eye mixes turn and turned
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses turn with turned
A purely visual mix-up. turn (/tɜːn/) and turned (/tɜːnd/) 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 2 extra letter(s) - “turn” sits inside “turned”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 1343, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
turn is recorded at frequency rank #484, classified as averb, pronounced /tɜːn/. 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 1343, this pair ranks #527,617 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of turn vs turned
Shared letters: nrtu. Private to "turn": -. Private to "turned": de.
"turn" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "turned" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "turn" and "turned" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "turn" or "turned"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "turn" and "turned" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "turn" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "turned" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #527,617 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "turn" and "turned" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tuft vs turn". 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 #527,617 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.