Which to use
“condense” is a verb and “condensed” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #41,059
- “condense” frequency rank
- #17,108
- “condensed” frequency rank
- 58167
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | condense | condensed |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To concentrate toward the essence by making more close, compact, or dense, thereby decreasing size or volume. | Highly concentrated, or packed into a small space. |
Letter map: condense vs condensed
Shared letters muted; letters that set condense and condensed apart highlighted. Shared run: 8. condense runs 8 letters (CVCCVCCV) against condensed's 9 (CVCCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Role in the sentence - condense and condensed
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: condense is averb and condensedanadjective. On the page they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “condense” sits inside “condensed”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 58167, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
condense is recorded at frequency rank #41,059, classified as averb, pronounced /kənˈdɛns/. 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 58167, this pair ranks #114,430 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of condense vs condensed
Shared letters: cdenos. Private to "condense": -. Private to "condensed": -.
"condense" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCCV · "condensed" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "condense" and "condensed" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "condense" vs "condensed" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
You've compared "condense" and "condensed". Here's where to go from here.
- Full dictionary entry for "condense" 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 #114,430 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "condense" and "condensed" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "condensate vs condense". 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 #114,430 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.