commandvscommandedWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: command is a noun, commanded is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“command” is a noun and “commanded” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#2,032
“command” frequency rank
#10,015
“commanded” frequency rank
12047
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature command commanded
Definition An order to do something. simple past and past participle of command

Where the eye mixes command and commanded

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.

7 ch
command
9 ch
commanded

Look-alike desk: command vs commanded

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: command is /kəˈmɑːnd/ while commanded is /kəˈmændɪd/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “command” sits inside “commanded”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12047, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

command is recorded at frequency rank #2,032, classified as anoun, pronounced /kəˈmɑːnd/. commanded is at rank #10,015, tagged as averb, pronounced /kəˈmændɪd/.

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 12047, this pair ranks #483,718 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of command vs commanded

Shared letters: acdmno. Private to "command": -. Private to "commanded": e.

"command" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC  ·  "commanded" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • commandccommand · cmomand · comamnd · comand · commadn · commandd · commannd · commnad
  • commandedccommanded · cmomanded · comamnded · comanded · commadned · commandde · commandded · commandedd

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "command" for "commanded" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "command" is a noun and "commanded" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "command" or "commanded"?
"command" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,032 in our English list, against #10,015 for "commanded". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "command" and "commanded" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "command" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "commanded" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #483,718 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "command" and "commanded" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "command vs comming". 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 #483,718 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