Which to use
“adapt” and “adapted” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #7,309
- “adapt” frequency rank
- #5,383
- “adapted” frequency rank
- 12692
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | adapt | adapted |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To make suitable; to make to correspond; to fit or suit. | simple past and past participle of adapt |
Where the eye mixes adapt and adapted
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses adapt with adapted
A purely visual mix-up. adapt (/əˈdæpt/) and adapted (/əˈdæptɪd/) 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 2 extra letter(s) - “adapt” sits inside “adapted”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12692, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
adapt is recorded at frequency rank #7,309, classified as averb, pronounced /əˈdæpt/. adapted is at rank #5,383, tagged as averb, pronounced /əˈdæptɪd/.
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 12692, this pair ranks #480,086 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of adapt vs adapted
Shared letters: adpt. Private to "adapt": -. Private to "adapted": e.
"adapt" · 5 letters · shape VCVCC · "adapted" · 7 letters · shape VCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "adapt" for "adapted" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "adapt" or "adapted" show up more?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "adapt" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "adapted" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #480,086 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "adapt" and "adapted" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "adapt vs appt". 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 #480,086 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.