Which to use
“abort” is a noun and “aborted” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #20,277
- “abort” frequency rank
- #22,873
- “aborted” frequency rank
- 43150
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | abort | aborted |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | An early termination of a mission, action, or procedure in relation to missiles or spacecraft; the craft making such a mission. | Stopped before completion; especially because of problems or danger. |
Where the eye mixes abort and aborted
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: abort vs aborted
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: abort is /əˈbɔːt/ while aborted is /əˈbɔɹtɪd/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “abort” sits inside “aborted”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43150, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
abort is recorded at frequency rank #20,277, classified as anoun, pronounced /əˈbɔːt/. aborted is at rank #22,873, tagged as anadj, pronounced /əˈbɔɹtɪd/.
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 43150, this pair ranks #242,709 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of abort vs aborted
Shared letters: abort. Private to "abort": -. Private to "aborted": de.
"abort" · 5 letters · shape VCVCC · "aborted" · 7 letters · shape VCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "abort" for "aborted" ever safe?
Which is more common, "abort" or "aborted"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "abort" and "aborted" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "abort" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "aborted" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #242,709 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "abort" and "aborted" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "abetted vs aborted". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #242,709 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.