bankedvsblankedWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#28,831
“banked” frequency rank
#49,794
“blanked” frequency rank
78625
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature banked blanked
Definition simple past and past participle of bank simple past and past participle of blank

Where the eye mixes banked and blanked

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

6 ch
banked
7 ch
blanked

Why the eye confuses banked with blanked

A purely visual mix-up. banked (/bæŋkt/) 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 78625, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

banked is recorded at frequency rank #28,831, classified as averb, pronounced /bæŋkt/. 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 78625, this pair ranks #24,136 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of banked vs blanked

Shared letters: abdekn. Private to "banked": -. Private to "blanked": l.

"banked" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "blanked" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • bankedabnked · bakned · banekd · bankde · bankedd · bankked · bannked · bbanked
  • blankedbalnked · bblanked · blakned · blanekd · blankde · blankedd · blankked · blannked

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "banked" and "blanked" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/bæŋkt/ versus /blæŋkt/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "banked" or "blanked"?
"banked" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #28,831 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

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "banked" 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 #24,136 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "banked" 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 #24,136 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