Which to use
“counted” is a verb and “courted” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #6,669
- “counted” frequency rank
- #33,593
- “courted” frequency rank
- 40262
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | counted | courted |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of count | Romantically pursued; wooed. |
Letter map: counted vs courted
Shared letters muted; letters that set counted and courted apart highlighted. Shared run: 6. counted and courted follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Role in the sentence - counted and courted
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: counted is averb and courtedanadjective. On the page they differ by a single letter - n in “counted” becomes r in “courted”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40262, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
counted is recorded at frequency rank #6,669, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈkaʊntɪd/. courted is at rank #33,593, 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 40262, this pair ranks #269,157 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of counted vs courted
Shared letters: cdeotu. Private to "counted": n. Private to "courted": r.
"counted" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC · "courted" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "counted" and "courted" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "counted" or "courted"?
What to do next
Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "counted" and "courted".
- Full dictionary entry for "counted" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "courted" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #269,157 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "counted" and "courted" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "courted vs crusted". 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 #269,157 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.