Which to use
“battered” is a verb and “batteries” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #16,848
- “battered” frequency rank
- #6,441
- “batteries” frequency rank
- 23289
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | battered | batteries |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of batter | plural of battery |
Where the eye mixes battered and batteries
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. battered runs 8 letters (CVCCVCVC) against batteries's 9 (CVCCVCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: battered vs batteries
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: battered is /ˈbætəd/ while batteries is /ˈbæt(ə)ɹiz/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 23289, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
battered is recorded at frequency rank #16,848, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈbætəd/. batteries is at rank #6,441, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈbæt(ə)ɹiz/.
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 23289, this pair ranks #410,422 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of battered vs batteries
Shared letters: abert. Private to "battered": d. Private to "batteries": is.
"battered" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC · "batteries" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "battered" and "batteries" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "battered" or "batteries"?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "battered" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "batteries" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #410,422 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "battered" and "batteries" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "battered vs buttered". 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 #410,422 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.