confused
/kənˈfjuːzd/
"confused" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“confused” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #3,157 in English word frequency and used as a verb.
- #3,157
- frequency rank, English
- 8
- letters
- 12
- tracked misspellings
- 5
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - simple past and past participle of confuse
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | confused |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /kənˈfjuːzd/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #3,157 |
| Misspellings tracked | 12 |
| Confusable pairs | 5 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “confused” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for confused is 8 letters long, classified as a verb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /kənˈfjuːzd/. Corpus data places it at rank #3,157 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "simple past and past participle of confuse".
Our generated misspelling index lists 12 likely wrong-spelling variants for confused, with forms such as "cconfused", "cnofused", and "cofnused". 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 5 confusable-pair relationships, "consumed", "confuse", "confined", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: Originally from Middle English confused (“frustrated, ruined”), from Anglo-Norman confus + Middle English -ed (past participial suffix), from Latin cōnfūsus, past participle of cōnfundō; now equivalent to confuse (a back-formation) + -ed. The correct English form is confused, spelled C-O-N-F-U-S-E-D.
Definition
- 1simple past and past participle of confuse
Etymology
Originally from Middle English confused (“frustrated, ruined”), from Anglo-Norman confus + Middle English -ed (past participial suffix), from Latin cōnfūsus, past participle of cōnfundō; now equivalent to confuse (a back-formation) + -ed.
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: cconfused,cnofused,cofnused,conffused,confsued,confuesd,confusde,confusedd,confussed,connfused,conufsed,ocnfused
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of confused - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
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
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Using “confused”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is C-O-N-F-U-S-E-D - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /kənˈfjuːzd/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “consumed” - see the side-by-side comparison. confused vs consumed
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.