bottomvsbottomedConfusable pair

Quick tell: bottom is a noun, bottomed is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“bottom” is a noun and “bottomed” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#1,521
“bottom” frequency rank
#33,154
“bottomed” frequency rank
34675
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature bottom bottomed
Definition The lowest part of anything. Having some specified type of bottom.

Letter map: bottom vs bottomed

Shared letters muted; letters that set bottom and bottomed apart highlighted. Shared run: 6. bottom runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against bottomed's 8 (CVCCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
bottom
8 ch
bottomed

Grammar separator: bottom vs bottomed

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: bottom is anoun and bottomedanadjective. On the page they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “bottom” sits inside “bottomed”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34675, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

bottom is recorded at frequency rank #1,521, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈbɒ.təm/. bottomed is at rank #33,154, tagged as anadj.

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 34675, this pair ranks #318,715 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of bottom vs bottomed

Shared letters: bmot. Private to "bottom": -. Private to "bottomed": de.

"bottom" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "bottomed" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • bottom ← bbottom · botom · bototm · bottmo · bottomm · btotom · obttom
  • bottomed ← bbottomed · botomed · bototmed · bottmoed · bottoemd · bottomde · bottomedd · bottommed

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "bottom" and "bottomed" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "bottom" is a noun and "bottomed" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "bottom" or "bottomed"?
"bottom" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,521 in our English list, against #33,154 for "bottomed". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "bottom" and "bottomed".

  • Full dictionary entry for "bottom" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "bottomed" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #318,715 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "bottom" and "bottomed" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "boomed vs bottomed". 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 #318,715 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