blastedvsboastedTell them apart

Which to use

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

#15,110
“blasted” frequency rank
#21,733
“boasted” frequency rank
36843
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature blasted boasted
Definition simple past and past participle of blast simple past and past participle of boast

Where the eye mixes blasted and boasted

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

7 ch
blasted
7 ch
boasted

Look-alike desk: blasted vs boasted

A purely visual mix-up. blasted (/ˈblɑː.stɪd/) and boasted (/ˈboʊstɪd/) 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 - l in “blasted” becomes o in “boasted”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 36843, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

blasted is recorded at frequency rank #15,110, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈblɑː.stɪd/. boasted is at rank #21,733, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈboʊstɪd/.

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 36843, this pair ranks #299,649 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of blasted vs boasted

Shared letters: abdest. Private to "blasted": l. Private to "boasted": o.

"blasted" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC  ·  "boasted" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • blastedbalsted · bblasted · blasetd · blassted · blastde · blastedd · blastted · blatsed
  • boastedbaosted · bboasted · boasetd · boassted · boastde · boastedd · boastted · boatsed

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "blasted" and "boasted" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/ˈblɑː.stɪd/ versus /ˈboʊstɪd/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "blasted" or "boasted"?
"blasted" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,110 in our English list, against #21,733 for "boasted". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "blasted" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "boasted" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #299,649 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "blasted" and "boasted" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "blanked vs blasted". 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 #299,649 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