accountvsaccountedWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#616
“account” frequency rank
#9,278
“accounted” frequency rank
9894
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature account accounted
Definition A registry of pecuniary transactions; a written or printed statement of business dealings or debts and credits, and also of other things subjected to a reckoning or review. simple past and past participle of account

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set account and accounted apart are highlighted. They share 7 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch
account
9 ch
accounted

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

account and accounted form a confusable pair in the English index, two distinct headwords that are easily confused because they look alike, sound alike, or both. They differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “account” sits inside “accounted” - close enough that the eye skips over the difference, far enough that meaning fully diverges. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 9894, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

account is recorded at frequency rank #616, classified as anoun, pronounced /əˈkaʊnt/. accounted is at rank #9,278, tagged as averb, pronounced /əˈkaʊntɪd/.

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 9894, this pair ranks #495,049 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Frequency comparison

account#616
accounted#9,278

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "account" and "accounted" be used interchangeably?
No, "account" and "accounted" have distinct meanings and cannot be swapped without changing the meaning of a sentence. Understanding the specific definition and context for each word is essential for correct usage.

Remembering account vs accounted

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “account”; for a verb, it's “accounted”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “account” 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