pursued

/pəˈsjuːd/

//pəˈsjuːd// verb

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

"pursued" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“pursued” has 10 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #8,474. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#8,474
frequency rank, English
4,417
“P” headwords
10
tracked misspellings
6
confusable pairs

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

Corpus desk

Index EN-pursued · pursued · English

pursued · rank #8,474 · 10 variants · 6 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #8,474
  • LEN-LONG 7 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-MID 6 pairs
  • VAR-MID 10 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,417
  • PHOTO-FINISH recruit

Nearest frequency peer: recruit (+2 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 “pursued”

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

corpus weight

What this shows “pursued” 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).

pursued vs pushed
71% similar
pursued vs pursuit
71% similar
pursued vs purse
71% similar

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

Key facts for pursued
PropertyValue
Headwordpursued
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechVerb
IPA/pəˈsjuːd/
Letters7
Frequency rank#8,474
Misspellings tracked10
Confusable pairs6
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “pursued”

This scale runs from the tiny cluster of words that carry ordinary speech (left) to the long tail of words almost nobody reaches for (right).pursuedlands here:

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

Ticks step logarithmically, so each one marks a roughly tenfold drop in how often the word turns up. Same rarity band neighbours include “recruit” (#8,476), “Powell” (#8,471), “resting” (#8,477). Among 4,417 “P” headwords, “pursued” is #8,474. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 10 spelling variants around pursued (IPA /pəˈsjuːd/), averb. Corpus frequency is #8,474 among 4,417 “P” headwords. Dominant gloss: "simple past and past participle of pursue".

Our generated misspelling index lists 10 likely wrong-spelling variants for pursued, with forms such as "ppursued", "prusued", and "purrsued". 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 6 confusable-pair relationships, "pushed", "pursuit", "purse", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct English form is pursued, spelled P-U-R-S-U-E-D.

Definition

  1. 1
    simple past and past participle of pursue

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • ppursued
  • prusued
  • purrsued
  • purseud
  • purssued
  • pursude
  • pursuedd
  • purused
  • pusrued
  • uprsued

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of pursued - 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.

ppursued1prusued2purrsued1purseud2purssued1pursude2pursuedd1purused2
Edit distance from "pursued"

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 "pursued"?
"pursued" is spelled P-U-R-S-U-E-D. The IPA pronunciation is /pəˈsjuːd/.
What does "pursued" mean?
As a verb, "pursued" means: simple past and past participle of pursue
What words are commonly confused with "pursued"?
"pursued" is commonly confused with "pushed", "pursuit", "purse". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "pursued"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "pursued" is /pəˈsjuːd/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "pursued" come from?
"pursued" is a English word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
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 "pursued", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

recruit#8,476resting#8,477phrases#8,467sharply#8,484

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (10 here; floor ≥5).

touring10 variantsleaning10 variantsumbrella10 variantsBeatles10 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list