abused

/əˈbjuːzd/

//əˈbjuːzd// verb

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"abused" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“abused” has 8 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #7,090. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#7,090
frequency rank, English
3,931
“A” headwords
8
tracked misspellings
13
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - simple past and past participle of abuse

Corpus desk

Index EN-abused · abused · English

abused · rank #7,090 · 8 variants · 13 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #7,090
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-MID 13 pairs
  • VAR-MID 8 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,931
  • PHOTO-FINISH acute

Nearest frequency peer: acute (+1 rank slots)

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Rank peers near misspelling magnet “abused”

Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword

corpus weight

What this shows “abused” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

abused vs amuse
67% similar
abused vs assed
67% similar
abused vs arsed
67% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for abused
PropertyValue
Headwordabused
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechVerb
IPA/əˈbjuːzd/
Letters6
Frequency rank#7,090
Misspellings tracked8
Confusable pairs13
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “abused”

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right).abusedlands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

The axis is logarithmic, with each marked tick roughly ten times rarer than the last. Same rarity band neighbours include “acute” (#7,091), “wrist” (#7,088), “admiral” (#7,092). Among 3,931 “A” headwords, “abused” is #7,090. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 8 spelling variants around abused (IPA /əˈbjuːzd/), averb. Corpus frequency is #7,090 among 3,931 “A” headwords. Dominant gloss: "simple past and past participle of abuse".

Our generated misspelling index lists 8 likely wrong-spelling variants for abused, with forms such as "abbused", "absued", and "abuesd". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 13 confusable-pair relationships, "amuse", "assed", "arsed", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. The correct English form is abused, spelled A-B-U-S-E-D.

Definition

  1. 1
    simple past and past participle of abuse

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • abbused
  • absued
  • abuesd
  • abusde
  • abusedd
  • abussed
  • aubsed
  • baused

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of abused - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.

abbused1absued2abuesd2abusde2abusedd1abussed1aubsed2baused2
Edit distance from "abused"

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "abused"?
"abused" is spelled A-B-U-S-E-D. The IPA pronunciation is /əˈbjuːzd/.
What does "abused" mean?
As a verb, "abused" means: simple past and past participle of abuse
What words are commonly confused with "abused"?
"abused" is commonly confused with "amuse", "assed", "arsed". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "abused"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "abused" is /əˈbjuːzd/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "abused" come from?
"abused" is a English word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "abused", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Amanda#7,093wolves#7,087Arnold#7,094banana#7,096

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (8 here; floor ≥5).

wrist8 variantsarrange8 variantsbehave8 variantsupside8 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list