Which to use
“demand” is a noun and “demanded” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #1,523
- “demand” frequency rank
- #5,874
- “demanded” frequency rank
- 7397
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | demand | demanded |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | The desire to purchase goods and services. | simple past and past participle of demand |
Where the eye mixes demand and demanded
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses demand with demanded
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: demand is /dɪˈmɑːnd/ while demanded is /dɪˈmændɪd/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “demand” sits inside “demanded”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 7397, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
demand is recorded at frequency rank #1,523, classified as anoun, pronounced /dɪˈmɑːnd/. demanded is at rank #5,874, tagged as averb, pronounced /dɪˈmændɪd/.
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 7397, this pair ranks #507,283 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of demand vs demanded
Shared letters: ademn. Private to "demand": -. Private to "demanded": -.
"demand" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC · "demanded" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "demand" for "demanded" ever safe?
Which is more common, "demand" or "demanded"?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "demand" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "demanded" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #507,283 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "demand" and "demanded" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "demand vs demean". 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 #507,283 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.