sendvssentWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: send is a verb, sent is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“send” is a verb and “sent” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#38,964
“send” frequency rank
#37,319
“sent” frequency rank
76283
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature send sent
Definition Mandar, enviar. Forma del masculino plural de sant.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set send and sent apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
send
4 ch
sent

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: send is /ˈsɛnd/ while sent is [ˈsɛnt]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - d in “send” becomes t in “sent”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 76283, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

send is recorded at frequency rank #38,964, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈsɛnd/. sent is at rank #37,319, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈsɛnt].

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 76283, this pair ranks #18,039 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of send vs sent

Shared letters: ens. Private to "send": d. Private to "sent": t.

"send" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "sent" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • sendcend · esnd · sedn · sendd · sennd · sned · ssend
  • sentesnt · sennt · sentt · setn · snet · ssent

Frequency comparison

send#38,964
sent#37,319

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "send" and "sent" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "send" is a verb and "sent" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "send" or "sent"?
"sent" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #37,319 in our Spanish list, against #38,964 for "send". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering send vs sent

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “send”; for a noun, it's “sent”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “send” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list