wedgevswedgedWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: wedge is a noun, wedged is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“wedge” is a noun and “wedged” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#12,715
“wedge” frequency rank
#33,080
“wedged” frequency rank
45795
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature wedge wedged
Definition One of the simple machines; a piece of material, such as metal or wood, thick at one edge and tapered to a thin edge at the other for insertion in a narrow crevice, used for splitting, tightening, securing, or levering. cuneiform or wedge-shaped

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set wedge and wedged apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
wedge
6 ch
wedged

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: wedge is anoun and wedgedanadjective. On the page they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “wedge” sits inside “wedged”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45795, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

wedge is recorded at frequency rank #12,715, classified as anoun, pronounced /wɛd͡ʒ/. wedged is at rank #33,080, 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 45795, this pair ranks #217,847 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of wedge vs wedged

Shared letters: degw. Private to "wedge": -. Private to "wedged": -.

"wedge" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "wedged" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • wedgeewdge · wdege · weddge · wedeg · wedgge · wegde · wwedge
  • wedgedewdged · wdeged · weddged · wedegd · wedgde · wedgedd · wedgged · wegded

Frequency comparison

wedge#12,715
wedged#33,080

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "wedge" and "wedged" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "wedge" is a noun and "wedged" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "wedge" or "wedged"?
"wedge" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,715 in our English list, against #33,080 for "wedged". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering wedge vs wedged

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “wedge”; for an adjective, it's “wedged”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “wedge” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list