used
/juzd/verb, adjective
used is spelled U-S-E-D. The wrong spelling people search most is unsed: about 10 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 526 of all searches for the word. Used is a verb meaning “In used to”.
How many letters and syllables are in used?
| Letters | 4: U-S-E-D |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 631 times per million words; the 157th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 1; the most searched, unsed, about 10 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
| Pairs people search | |
| Rhymes with | |
| Same letters |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How do you spell used?
Used is spelled U-S-E-D. One wrong spelling is searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 539 of the searches for used in either form.
Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.
How common is used?
Used appears 631 times per million words in written English, the 157th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce used?
- UK /juːzd/
- US /juzd/
- UK /juːst/
Used has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-used.ogg, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-used_(used_to).wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with used
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with used?
3 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as used from its last stressed vowel (/uzd/):
Spelled with the same letters in another order: dues, desu.
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of used
- more used comparative
- most used superlative
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does used mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
verb
- 1
simple past and past participle of use
You used me! You never loved me at all!
- 2
In used to.
adjective
- 1
That is or has or have been used.
The ground was littered with used syringes left behind by drug abusers.
- 2
That has or have previously been owned by someone else.
He bought a used car.
- 3
In used to.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you abbreviate used?
Wiktionary records one abbreviation of used: MOB.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Used in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| Portuguese | usado , de segunda mão , acostumado |
| Spanish | usado |
| French | seconde main, occasion, de seconde main |
| German | gebraucht, Second-Hand |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does used come from?
From Middle English used, equivalent to use + -ed.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).