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 eye mixes blacklist and blacklisted
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence. blacklist runs 9 letters (CCVCCCVCC) against blacklisted's 11 (CCVCCCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between blacklist and blacklisted
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: blacklist is /ˈblæklɪst/ while blacklisted is /ˈblæk.lɪstəd/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “blacklist” sits inside “blacklisted”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. 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.
Orthographic DNA of blacklist vs blacklisted
Shared letters: abciklst. Private to "blacklist": -. Private to "blacklisted": de.
"blacklist" · 9 letters · shape CCVCCCVCC · "blacklisted" · 11 letters · shape CCVCCCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- blacklist ← balcklist · bblacklist · blaccklist · blackilst · blackklist · blacklisst · blacklistt · blacklits
- blacklisted ← balcklisted · bblacklisted · blaccklisted · blackilsted · blackklisted · blacklisetd · blacklissted · blacklistde
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "blacklist" and "blacklisted" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "blacklist" vs "blacklisted" - which ranks higher?
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 "blacklist" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "blacklisted" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #147,821 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "blacklist" and "blacklisted" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "blackfish vs blacklist". 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 #147,821 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.