condemnedvscondensedWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#7,434
“condemned” frequency rank
#17,108
“condensed” frequency rank
24542
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature condemned condensed
Definition Having received a curse to be doomed to suffer eternally. Highly concentrated, or packed into a small space.

Letter map: condemned vs condensed

Shared letters muted; letters that set condemned and condensed apart highlighted. Shared run: 8.

9 ch
condemned
9 ch
condensed

Pair insight - condemned / condensed

condemned and condensed are indexed as a confusable English pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 24542, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

condemned is recorded at frequency rank #7,434, classified as anadj, pronounced /kənˈdɛmd/. condensed is at rank #17,108, 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 24542, this pair ranks #401,170 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of condemned vs condensed

Shared letters: cdeno. Private to "condemned": m. Private to "condensed": s.

"condemned" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC  ·  "condensed" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • condemnedccondemned · cnodemned · codnemned · conddemned · condemend · condemmned · condemnde · condemnedd
  • condensedccondensed · cnodensed · codnensed · conddensed · condenesd · condennsed · condensde · condensedd

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "condemned" and "condensed" be used interchangeably?
No. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Frequency check: "condemned" vs "condensed" - which ranks higher?
"condemned" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,434 in our English list, against #17,108 for "condensed". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "condemned" and "condensed".

  • Full dictionary entry for "condemned" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "condensed" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #401,170 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "condemned" and "condensed" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "condense vs condensed". 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 #401,170 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