Which to use
“delegate” is a noun and “delegated” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #11,197
- “delegate” frequency rank
- #25,349
- “delegated” frequency rank
- 36546
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | delegate | delegated |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A person authorized to act as representative for another; a deputy. | simple past and past participle of delegate |
Where the eye mixes delegate and delegated
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between delegate and delegated
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: delegate is /ˈdɛlɪɡət/ while delegated is /ˈdɛlɪˌɡeɪtɪd/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “delegate” sits inside “delegated”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 36546, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
delegate is recorded at frequency rank #11,197, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈdɛlɪɡət/. delegated is at rank #25,349, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈdɛlɪˌɡeɪtɪd/.
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 36546, this pair ranks #302,249 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of delegate vs delegated
Shared letters: adeglt. Private to "delegate": -. Private to "delegated": -.
"delegate" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVCV · "delegated" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "delegate" and "delegated" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary English text, does "delegate" or "delegated" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "delegate" and "delegated" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "delegate" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "delegated" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #302,249 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "delegate" and "delegated" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "delegated vs delighted". 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 #302,249 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.