Which to use
“winged” is an adjective and “wronged” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #16,387
- “winged” frequency rank
- #25,980
- “wronged” frequency rank
- 42367
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | winged | wronged |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Having wings. | simple past and past participle of wrong |
Where the eye mixes winged and wronged
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses winged with wronged
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: winged is /wɪŋɪd/ while wronged is /ɹɒŋd/. 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 42367, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
winged is recorded at frequency rank #16,387, classified as anadj, pronounced /wɪŋɪd/. wronged is at rank #25,980, tagged as averb, pronounced /ɹɒŋd/.
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 42367, this pair ranks #249,910 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of winged vs wronged
Shared letters: degnw. Private to "winged": i. Private to "wronged": or.
"winged" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "wronged" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "winged" and "wronged" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary English text, does "winged" or "wronged" show up more?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "winged" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "wronged" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #249,910 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "winged" and "wronged" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "whined vs winged". 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 #249,910 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.