courtedvscovetedWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: courted is a adjective, coveted is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“courted” is an adjective and “coveted” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#33,593
“courted” frequency rank
#18,525
“coveted” frequency rank
52118
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature courted coveted
Definition Romantically pursued; wooed. simple past and past participle of covet

Letter map: courted vs coveted

Shared letters muted; letters that set courted and coveted apart highlighted. Shared run: 5. courted (CVVCCVC) and coveted (CVCVCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

7 ch
courted
7 ch
coveted

Role in the sentence - courted and coveted

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: courted is anadjective and covetedaverb. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 52118, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

courted is recorded at frequency rank #33,593, classified as anadj. coveted is at rank #18,525, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈkʌvɪtɪd/.

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 52118, this pair ranks #159,731 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of courted vs coveted

Shared letters: cdeot. Private to "courted": ru. Private to "coveted": v.

"courted" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC  ·  "coveted" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • courted ← ccourted · coruted · couretd · courrted · courtde · courtedd · courtted · coutred
  • coveted ← ccoveted · coevted · coveetd · covetde · covetedd · covetted · covteed · covveted

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "courted" and "coveted" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "courted" is an adjective and "coveted" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "courted" vs "coveted" - which ranks higher?
"coveted" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,525 in our English list, against #33,593 for "courted". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

You've compared "courted" and "coveted". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "courted" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "coveted" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #159,731 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "courted" and "coveted" 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 #159,731 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