demandedvsdependedWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“demanded” and “depended” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#5,874
“demanded” frequency rank
#16,210
“depended” frequency rank
22084
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature demanded depended
Definition simple past and past participle of demand simple past and past participle of depend

Where the eye mixes demanded and depended

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. demanded and depended follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

8 ch
demanded
8 ch
depended

Why the eye confuses demanded with depended

A purely visual mix-up. demanded (/dɪˈmændɪd/) and depended (/dɪˈpɛndɪd/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 22084, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

demanded is recorded at frequency rank #5,874, classified as averb, pronounced /dɪˈmændɪd/. depended is at rank #16,210, tagged as averb, pronounced /dɪˈpɛndɪd/.

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 22084, this pair ranks #419,220 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of demanded vs depended

Shared letters: den. Private to "demanded": am. Private to "depended": p.

"demanded" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC  ·  "depended" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • demanded ← ddemanded · deamnded · demadned · demandde · demandded · demandedd · demanedd · demannded
  • depended ← ddepended · deepnded · depedned · dependde · dependded · dependedd · depenedd · depennded

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "demanded" and "depended" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/dɪˈmændɪd/ versus /dɪˈpɛndɪd/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "demanded" or "depended"?
"demanded" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,874 in our English list, against #16,210 for "depended". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "demanded" and "depended" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "demanded" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "depended" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #419,220 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "demanded" and "depended" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "demented vs depended". 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 #419,220 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