Which to use
“aced” and “acted” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #46,285
- “aced” frequency rank
- #4,425
- “acted” frequency rank
- 50710
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | aced | acted |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of ace | simple past and past participle of act |
Where the eye mixes aced and acted
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. aced runs 4 letters (VCVC) against acted's 5 (VCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between aced and acted
A purely visual mix-up. aced (/eɪst/) and acted (/ˈæk.tɪd/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50710, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
aced is recorded at frequency rank #46,285, classified as averb, pronounced /eɪst/. acted is at rank #4,425, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈæk.tɪd/.
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 50710, this pair ranks #171,870 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of aced vs acted
Shared letters: acde. Private to "aced": -. Private to "acted": t.
"aced" · 4 letters · shape VCVC · "acted" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "aced" and "acted" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "aced" or "acted"?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "aced" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "acted" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #171,870 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "aced" and "acted" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "aced vs ake". 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 #171,870 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.