Which to use
“aged” is an adjective and “ate” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #2,977
- “aged” frequency rank
- #3,999
- “ate” frequency rank
- 6976
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | aged | ate |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Old. | simple past of eat |
Where the eye mixes aged and ate
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: aged is /ˈeɪ.dʒɪd/ while ate is /eɪt/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 6976, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
aged is recorded at frequency rank #2,977, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈeɪ.dʒɪd/. ate is at rank #3,999, tagged as averb, pronounced /eɪt/.
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 6976, this pair ranks #509,158 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of aged vs ate
Shared letters: ae. Private to "aged": dg. Private to "ate": t.
"aged" · 4 letters · shape VCVC · "ate" · 3 letters · shape VCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- aged ← aegd · agde · agedd · agged · gaed