cheatedvscheckedTell them apart

Which to use

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

#8,256
“cheated” frequency rank
#2,779
“checked” frequency rank
11035
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cheated checked
Definition Having been tricked or deceived. Marked with a check mark.

Where the eye mixes cheated and checked

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

7 ch
cheated
7 ch
checked

Visual trap between cheated and checked

A purely visual mix-up. cheated (/ˈt͡ʃiːtɪd/) and checked (/t͡ʃɛkt/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 11035, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cheated is recorded at frequency rank #8,256, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈt͡ʃiːtɪd/. checked is at rank #2,779, tagged as anadj, pronounced /t͡ʃɛkt/.

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 11035, this pair ranks #489,229 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of cheated vs checked

Shared letters: cdeh. Private to "cheated": at. Private to "checked": k.

"cheated" · 7 letters · shape CCVVCVC  ·  "checked" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cheatedccheated · cehated · chaeted · cheaetd · cheatde · cheatedd · cheatted · chetaed
  • checkedcchecked · cehcked · chceked · checcked · checekd · checkde · checkedd · checkked

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "cheated" and "checked" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/ˈt͡ʃiːtɪd/ versus /t͡ʃɛkt/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "cheated" or "checked"?
"checked" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,779 in our English list, against #8,256 for "cheated". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "cheated" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "checked" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #489,229 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cheated" and "checked" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cheated vs cleaved". 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 #489,229 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