Which to use
“affect” is a verb and “affected” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #2,510
- “affect” frequency rank
- #2,277
- “affected” frequency rank
- 4787
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | affect | affected |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To influence or alter. | Influenced or changed by something. |
Where the eye mixes affect and affected
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses affect with affected
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: affect is /əˈfɛkt/ while affected is /əˈfɛktɪd/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “affect” sits inside “affected”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 4787, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
affect is recorded at frequency rank #2,510, classified as averb, pronounced /əˈfɛkt/. affected is at rank #2,277, tagged as anadj, pronounced /əˈfɛktɪd/.
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 4787, this pair ranks #517,673 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of affect vs affected
Shared letters: aceft. Private to "affect": -. Private to "affected": d.
"affect" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCC · "affected" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "affect" for "affected" ever safe?
Frequency check: "affect" vs "affected" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "affect" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "affected" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #517,673 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "affect" and "affected" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "abject vs affect". 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 #517,673 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.