Which to use
“banned” and “bathed” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #3,544
- “banned” frequency rank
- #24,389
- “bathed” frequency rank
- 27933
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | banned | bathed |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of ban | simple past and past participle of bathe |
Where the eye mixes banned and bathed
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between banned and bathed
A purely visual mix-up. banned (/bænd/) and bathed (/beɪðd/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 27933, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
banned is recorded at frequency rank #3,544, classified as averb, pronounced /bænd/. bathed is at rank #24,389, tagged as averb, pronounced /beɪðd/.
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 27933, this pair ranks #374,974 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of banned vs bathed
Shared letters: abde. Private to "banned": n. Private to "bathed": ht.
"banned" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "bathed" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "banned" for "bathed" ever safe?
Which is more common, "banned" or "bathed"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "banned" and "bathed" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "banned" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "bathed" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #374,974 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "banned" and "bathed" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bathed vs butted". 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 #374,974 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.