connedvscountedWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#35,229
“conned” frequency rank
#6,669
“counted” frequency rank
41898
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature conned counted
Definition simple past and past participle of con simple past and past participle of count

Where the eye mixes conned and counted

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

6 ch
conned
7 ch
counted

Look-alike desk: conned vs counted

A purely visual mix-up. conned (/kɒnd/) and counted (/ˈkaʊntɪd/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 41898, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

conned is recorded at frequency rank #35,229, classified as averb, pronounced /kɒnd/. counted is at rank #6,669, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈkaʊntɪd/.

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 41898, this pair ranks #254,117 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of conned vs counted

Shared letters: cdeno. Private to "conned": -. Private to "counted": tu.

"conned" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "counted" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • connedcconned · cnoned · coned · conend · connde · connedd · ocnned
  • countedccounted · conuted · counetd · counnted · countde · countedd · countted · coutned

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "conned" and "counted" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/kɒnd/ versus /ˈkaʊntɪd/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "conned" or "counted"?
"counted" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,669 in our English list, against #35,229 for "conned". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "conned" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "counted" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #254,117 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "conned" and "counted" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "coaxed vs conned". 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 #254,117 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