Which to use
“administer” and “administered” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #14,059
- “administer” frequency rank
- #7,520
- “administered” frequency rank
- 21579
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | administer | administered |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To apportion out, distribute. | simple past and past participle of administer |
Where the eye mixes administer and administered
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 10 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between administer and administered
A purely visual mix-up. administer (/ədˈmɪn.ɪ.stə/) and administered (/ədˈmɪnɪstɚd/) 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) - “administer” sits inside “administered”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 21579, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
administer is recorded at frequency rank #14,059, classified as averb, pronounced /ədˈmɪn.ɪ.stə/. administered is at rank #7,520, tagged as averb, pronounced /ədˈmɪnɪstɚd/.
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 21579, this pair ranks #422,863 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of administer vs administered
Shared letters: adeimnrst. Private to "administer": -. Private to "administered": -.
"administer" · 10 letters · shape VCCVCVCCVC · "administered" · 12 letters · shape VCCVCVCCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- administer ← addminister · adimnister · admiinster · adminisetr · adminisster · administerr · administre · administter
- administered ← addministered · adimnistered · admiinstered · adminisetred · adminisstered · administeerd · administerde · administeredd
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "administer" and "administered" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "administer" or "administered"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "administer" and "administered" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "administer" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "administered" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #422,863 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- 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 #422,863 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.