checkedvscheeredWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: checked is a adjective, cheered is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“checked” is an adjective and “cheered” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#2,779
“checked” frequency rank
#17,566
“cheered” frequency rank
20345
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature checked cheered
Definition Marked with a check mark. simple past and past participle of cheer

Where the eye mixes checked and cheered

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

7 ch
checked
7 ch
cheered

Why the eye confuses checked with cheered

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: checked is /t͡ʃɛkt/ while cheered is /t͡ʃɪɹd/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 20345, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

checked is recorded at frequency rank #2,779, classified as anadj, pronounced /t͡ʃɛkt/. cheered is at rank #17,566, tagged as averb, pronounced /t͡ʃɪɹd/.

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 20345, this pair ranks #431,732 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of checked vs cheered

Shared letters: cdeh. Private to "checked": k. Private to "cheered": r.

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

Known mistypes of this pair

  • checkedcchecked · cehcked · chceked · checcked · checekd · checkde · checkedd · checkked
  • cheeredccheered · cehered · cheeerd · cheerde · cheeredd · cheerred · chered · chereed

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "checked" and "cheered" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "checked" is an adjective and "cheered" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "checked" or "cheered"?
"checked" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,779 in our English list, against #17,566 for "cheered". 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 "checked" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "cheered" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #431,732 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "checked" and "cheered" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cheered vs creeped". 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 #431,732 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