admiredvsadoredWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“admired” and “adored” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#10,802
“admired” frequency rank
#19,005
“adored” frequency rank
29807
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature admired adored
Definition simple past and past participle of admire simple past and past participle of adore

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set admired and adored apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch
admired
6 ch
adored

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. admired (/ədˈmaɪɹd/) and adored (/əˈdɔɹd/) 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 29807, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

admired is recorded at frequency rank #10,802, classified as averb, pronounced /ədˈmaɪɹd/. adored is at rank #19,005, tagged as averb, pronounced /əˈdɔɹd/.

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 29807, this pair ranks #359,848 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of admired vs adored

Shared letters: ader. Private to "admired": im. Private to "adored": o.

"admired" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC  ·  "adored" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • admiredaddmired · adimred · admierd · admirde · admiredd · admirred · admmired · admried
  • adoredaddored · adoerd · adorde · adoredd · adorred · adroed · aodred · daored

Frequency comparison

admired#10,802
adored#19,005

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "admired" and "adored" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ədˈmaɪɹd/ versus /əˈdɔɹd/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "admired" or "adored"?
"admired" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,802 in our English list, against #19,005 for "adored". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering admired vs adored

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “admired” 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