Which to use
“batten” and “bitten” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #39,697
- “batten” frequency rank
- #15,109
- “bitten” frequency rank
- 54806
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | batten | bitten |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To cause (an animal, etc.) to become fat or thrive through plenteous feeding; to fatten. | past participle of bite |
Where the eye mixes batten and bitten
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between batten and bitten
A purely visual mix-up. batten (/ˈbæt(ə)n/) and bitten (/ˈbɪt.ən/) 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 a single letter - a in “batten” becomes i in “bitten”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 54806, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
batten is recorded at frequency rank #39,697, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈbæt(ə)n/. bitten is at rank #15,109, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈbɪt.ən/.
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 54806, this pair ranks #138,349 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of batten vs bitten
Shared letters: bent. Private to "batten": a. Private to "bitten": i.
"batten" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "bitten" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "batten" and "bitten" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "batten" or "bitten" show up more?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "batten" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "bitten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #138,349 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "batten" and "bitten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "batt vs batten". 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 #138,349 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.