Which to use
“voiced” and “vowed” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #10,313
- “voiced” frequency rank
- #17,518
- “vowed” frequency rank
- 27831
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | voiced | vowed |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of voice | past participle of vow |
Where the eye mixes voiced and vowed
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. voiced runs 6 letters (CVVCVC) against vowed's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between voiced and vowed
A purely visual mix-up. voiced (/vɔɪst/) and vowed (/vaʊd/) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 27831, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
voiced is recorded at frequency rank #10,313, classified as averb, pronounced /vɔɪst/. vowed is at rank #17,518, tagged as averb, pronounced /vaʊd/.
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 27831, this pair ranks #375,769 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of voiced vs vowed
Shared letters: deov. Private to "voiced": ci. Private to "vowed": w.
"voiced" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC · "vowed" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "voiced" and "vowed" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "voiced" vs "vowed" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "voiced" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "vowed" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #375,769 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "voiced" and "vowed" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "vole vs vowed". 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 #375,769 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.