Which to use
“aggravate” and “aggravated” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #36,851
- “aggravate” frequency rank
- #15,561
- “aggravated” frequency rank
- 52412
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | aggravate | aggravated |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To make (an offence) worse or more severe; to increase in offensiveness or heinousness. | simple past and past participle of aggravate. |
Where the eye mixes aggravate and aggravated
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses aggravate with aggravated
A purely visual mix-up. aggravate (/ˈæɡ.ɹə.veɪ̯t/) and aggravated (/ˈæɡ.ɹə.veɪ̯tɪd/) 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 extra letter(s) - “aggravate” sits inside “aggravated”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 52412, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
aggravate is recorded at frequency rank #36,851, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈæɡ.ɹə.veɪ̯t/. aggravated is at rank #15,561, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈæɡ.ɹə.veɪ̯tɪd/.
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 52412, this pair ranks #157,262 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of aggravate vs aggravated
Shared letters: aegrtv. Private to "aggravate": -. Private to "aggravated": d.
"aggravate" · 9 letters · shape VCCCVCVCV · "aggravated" · 10 letters · shape VCCCVCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- aggravate ← aggarvate · aggraavte · aggravaet · aggravatte · aggravtae · aggravvate · aggrravate · aggrvaate
- aggravated ← aggarvated · aggraavted · aggravaetd · aggravatde · aggravatedd · aggravatted · aggravtaed · aggravvated
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "aggravate" and "aggravated" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "aggravate" or "aggravated"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "aggravate" and "aggravated" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "aggravate" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "aggravated" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #157,262 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "aggravate" and "aggravated" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "aggravate vs aggregate". 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 #157,262 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.