Which to use
“blacklist” is a noun and “blacklisted” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #24,393
- “blacklist” frequency rank
- #29,190
- “blacklisted” frequency rank
- 53583
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | blacklist | blacklisted |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A list or set of people or entities to be shunned or banned, disallowed or blocked. | Being on a blacklist, or having been shunned and rejected due to information (true or false) being spread about scandalous activities or ideas, especially controversial political opinions. |
Where the spellings diverge
Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set blacklist and blacklisted apart are highlighted. They share 9 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
blacklist and blacklisted form a confusable pair in the English index, two distinct headwords that are easily confused because they look alike, sound alike, or both. They differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “blacklist” sits inside “blacklisted” - close enough that the eye skips over the difference, far enough that meaning fully diverges. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 53583, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
blacklist is recorded at frequency rank #24,393, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈblæklɪst/. blacklisted is at rank #29,190, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈblæk.lɪstəd/.
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 53583, this pair ranks #147,821 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Frequency comparison
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "blacklist" and "blacklisted" be used interchangeably?
Remembering blacklist vs blacklisted
The fastest way to pick the right one every time.
- Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “blacklist”; for an adjective, it's “blacklisted”.
- See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “blacklist” entry
- Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable