Which to use
“washed” is a verb and “washy” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #6,109
- “washed” frequency rank
- #46,852
- “washy” frequency rank
- 52961
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | washed | washy |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of wash | Watery; damp; soft. |
Letter map: washed vs washy
Shared letters muted; letters that set washed and washy apart highlighted. Shared run: 4. washed runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against washy's 5 (CVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Part-of-speech tell for washed / washy
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: washed is averb and washyanadjective. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 52961, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
washed is recorded at frequency rank #6,109, classified as averb, pronounced /wɒʃt/. washy is at rank #46,852, tagged as anadj.
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 52961, this pair ranks #152,802 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of washed vs washy
Shared letters: ahsw. Private to "washed": de. Private to "washy": y.
"washed" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "washy" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "washed" and "washy" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "washed" or "washy" show up more?
After this comparison
You've compared "washed" and "washy". Here's where to go from here.
- Full dictionary entry for "washed" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "washy" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #152,802 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "washed" and "washy" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "washy vs waxy". 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 #152,802 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.