Which to use
“await” and “awaited” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #12,374
- “await” frequency rank
- #13,281
- “awaited” frequency rank
- 25655
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | await | awaited |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To wait for. | simple past and past participle of await |
Where the eye mixes await and awaited
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: await vs awaited
A purely visual mix-up. await (/əˈweɪt/) and awaited (/əˈweɪtɪd/) 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 extra letter(s) - “await” sits inside “awaited”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 25655, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
await is recorded at frequency rank #12,374, classified as averb, pronounced /əˈweɪt/. awaited is at rank #13,281, tagged as averb, pronounced /əˈweɪtɪd/.
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 25655, this pair ranks #392,636 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of await vs awaited
Shared letters: aitw. Private to "await": -. Private to "awaited": de.
"await" · 5 letters · shape VCVVC · "awaited" · 7 letters · shape VCVVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "await" and "awaited" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "await" or "awaited"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "await" and "awaited" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "await" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "awaited" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #392,636 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "await" and "awaited" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "abated vs awaited". 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 #392,636 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.