demandedvsderangedTell them apart

Quick tell: demanded is a verb, deranged is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#5,874
“demanded” frequency rank
#22,349
“deranged” frequency rank
28223
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature demanded deranged
Definition simple past and past participle of demand Disturbed or upset, especially mentally.

Where the eye mixes demanded and deranged

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

8 ch
demanded
8 ch
deranged

Look-alike desk: demanded vs deranged

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: demanded is /dɪˈmændɪd/ while deranged is /dɪˈɹeɪnd͡ʒd/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 28223, 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/. deranged is at rank #22,349, tagged as anadj, pronounced /dɪˈɹeɪnd͡ʒd/.

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 28223, this pair ranks #372,752 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of demanded vs deranged

Shared letters: aden. Private to "demanded": m. Private to "deranged": gr.

"demanded" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC  ·  "deranged" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • demandedddemanded · deamnded · demadned · demandde · demandded · demandedd · demanedd · demannded
  • derangeddderanged · dearnged · deragned · deranegd · derangde · derangedd · derangged · derannged

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "demanded" for "deranged" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "demanded" is a verb and "deranged" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary English text, does "demanded" or "deranged" show up more?
"demanded" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,874 in our English list, against #22,349 for "deranged". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "demanded" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "deranged" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #372,752 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "demanded" and "deranged" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "derailed vs deranged". 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 #372,752 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