balancedvsblankedWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#5,292
“balanced” frequency rank
#49,794
“blanked” frequency rank
55086
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature balanced blanked
Definition simple past and past participle of balance simple past and past participle of blank

Where the eye mixes balanced and blanked

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

8 ch
balanced
7 ch
blanked

Look-alike desk: balanced vs blanked

A purely visual mix-up. balanced (/ˈbælənst/) and blanked (/blæŋkt/) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 55086, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

balanced is recorded at frequency rank #5,292, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈbælənst/. blanked is at rank #49,794, tagged as averb, pronounced /blæŋkt/.

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 55086, this pair ranks #136,267 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of balanced vs blanked

Shared letters: abdeln. Private to "balanced": c. Private to "blanked": k.

"balanced" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC  ·  "blanked" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • balancedablanced · baalnced · balacned · balancced · balancde · balancedd · balanecd · balannced
  • blankedbalnked · bblanked · blakned · blanekd · blankde · blankedd · blankked · blannked

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "balanced" and "blanked" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈbælənst/ versus /blæŋkt/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary English text, does "balanced" or "blanked" show up more?
"balanced" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,292 in our English list, against #49,794 for "blanked". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "balanced" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "blanked" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #136,267 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "balanced" and "blanked" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "blanked vs blankly". 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 #136,267 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list