adorevsadornedWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#11,158
“adore” frequency rank
#17,753
“adorned” frequency rank
28911
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature adore adorned
Definition To worship. simple past and past participle of adorn

Where the spellings diverge

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

5 ch
adore
7 ch
adorned

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. adore (/əˈdɔː/) and adorned (/əˈdɔɹnd/) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 28911, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

adore is recorded at frequency rank #11,158, classified as averb, pronounced /əˈdɔː/. adorned is at rank #17,753, tagged as averb, pronounced /əˈdɔɹnd/.

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 28911, this pair ranks #367,303 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of adore vs adorned

Shared letters: adeor. Private to "adore": -. Private to "adorned": n.

"adore" · 5 letters · shape VCVCV  ·  "adorned" · 7 letters · shape VCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • adoreaddore · adoer · adorre · adroe · aodre · daore
  • adornedaddorned · adonred · adorend · adornde · adornedd · adornned · adorrned · adroned

Frequency comparison

adore#11,158
adorned#17,753

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "adore" and "adorned" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/əˈdɔː/ versus /əˈdɔɹnd/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "adore" or "adorned"?
"adore" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,158 in our English list, against #17,753 for "adorned". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering adore vs adorned

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 “adore” 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