Which to use
“deposit” is a noun and “deposited” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #4,750
- “deposit” frequency rank
- #12,222
- “deposited” frequency rank
- 16972
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | deposit | deposited |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Sediment or rock that is not native to its present location or is different from the surrounding material. Sometimes refers to ore or gems. | simple past and past participle of deposit |
Where the eye mixes deposit and deposited
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. deposit runs 7 letters (CVCVCVC) against deposited's 9 (CVCVCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses deposit with deposited
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: deposit is /dɪˈpɒz.ɪt/ while deposited is /dɪˈpɑzɪtɪd/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “deposit” sits inside “deposited”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 16972, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
deposit is recorded at frequency rank #4,750, classified as anoun, pronounced /dɪˈpɒz.ɪt/. deposited is at rank #12,222, tagged as averb, pronounced /dɪˈpɑzɪtɪd/.
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 16972, this pair ranks #454,417 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of deposit vs deposited
Shared letters: deiopst. Private to "deposit": -. Private to "deposited": -.
"deposit" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC · "deposited" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "deposit" for "deposited" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "deposit" or "deposited" show up more?
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 "deposit" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "deposited" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #454,417 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "deposit" and "deposited" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "depose vs deposit". 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 #454,417 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.