Which to use
“corrupt” and “corrupted” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #5,669
- “corrupt” frequency rank
- #15,137
- “corrupted” frequency rank
- 20806
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | corrupt | corrupted |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Willing to act dishonestly for personal gain; accepting bribes. | Marked by immorality and perversion; depraved. |
Where the eye mixes corrupt and corrupted
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between corrupt and corrupted
A purely visual mix-up. corrupt (/kəˈɹʌpt/) and corrupted (/kəˈɹʌptɪd/) 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 2 extra letter(s) - “corrupt” sits inside “corrupted”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 20806, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
corrupt is recorded at frequency rank #5,669, classified as anadj, pronounced /kəˈɹʌpt/. corrupted is at rank #15,137, tagged as anadj, pronounced /kəˈɹʌptɪd/.
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 20806, this pair ranks #428,528 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of corrupt vs corrupted
Shared letters: coprtu. Private to "corrupt": -. Private to "corrupted": de.
"corrupt" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC · "corrupted" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "corrupt" and "corrupted" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "corrupt" or "corrupted"?
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 "corrupt" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "corrupted" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #428,528 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "corrupt" and "corrupted" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "corrugated vs corrupted". 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 #428,528 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.