bankvsbankedWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: bank is a noun, banked is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“bank” is a noun and “banked” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#705
“bank” frequency rank
#28,831
“banked” frequency rank
29536
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature bank banked
Definition An institution where one can place and borrow money and take care of financial affairs. simple past and past participle of bank

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set bank and banked apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
bank
6 ch
banked

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

bank and banked form a confusable pair in the English index, two distinct headwords that are easily confused because they look alike, sound alike, or both. They differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “bank” sits inside “banked” - close enough that the eye skips over the difference, far enough that meaning fully diverges. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 29536, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

bank is recorded at frequency rank #705, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈbæŋk/. banked is at rank #28,831, tagged as averb, pronounced /bæŋkt/.

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 29536, this pair ranks #362,162 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Frequency comparison

bank#705
banked#28,831

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "bank" and "banked" be used interchangeably?
No, "bank" and "banked" have distinct meanings and cannot be swapped without changing the meaning of a sentence. Understanding the specific definition and context for each word is essential for correct usage.

Remembering bank vs banked

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “bank”; for a verb, it's “banked”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “bank” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list