bashedvsblastedWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#25,292
“bashed” frequency rank
#15,110
“blasted” frequency rank
40402
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature bashed blasted
Definition simple past and past participle of bash simple past and past participle of blast

Where the eye mixes bashed and blasted

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

6 ch
bashed
7 ch
blasted

Look-alike desk: bashed vs blasted

A purely visual mix-up. bashed (/bæʃt/) and blasted (/ˈblɑː.stɪd/) 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 40402, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

bashed is recorded at frequency rank #25,292, classified as averb, pronounced /bæʃt/. blasted is at rank #15,110, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈblɑː.stɪd/.

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 40402, this pair ranks #267,940 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of bashed vs blasted

Shared letters: abdes. Private to "bashed": h. Private to "blasted": lt.

"bashed" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "blasted" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • bashedabshed · bahsed · basehd · bashde · bashedd · bashhed · basshed · bbashed
  • blastedbalsted · bblasted · blasetd · blassted · blastde · blastedd · blastted · blatsed

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "bashed" for "blasted" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/bæʃt/ versus /ˈblɑː.stɪd/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "bashed" or "blasted"?
"blasted" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,110 in our English list, against #25,292 for "bashed". 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 "bashed" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "blasted" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #267,940 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "bashed" and "blasted" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bashed vs beached". 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 #267,940 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