Which to use
“dilated” and “diluted” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #30,396
- “dilated” frequency rank
- #15,601
- “diluted” frequency rank
- 45997
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dilated | diluted |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Having undergone dilation; enlarged. | That has had something added in order to dilute it. |
Letter map: dilated vs diluted
Shared letters muted; letters that set dilated and diluted apart highlighted. Shared run: 6.
Spelling & dictionary notes on dilated vs diluted
dilated and diluted are indexed as a confusable English pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by a single letter - a in “dilated” becomes u in “diluted”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45997, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
dilated is recorded at frequency rank #30,396, classified as anadj, pronounced /daɪˈleɪtɪd/. diluted is at rank #15,601, tagged as anadj.
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 45997, this pair ranks #215,963 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of dilated vs diluted
Shared letters: deilt. Private to "dilated": a. Private to "diluted": u.
"dilated" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC · "diluted" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "dilated" and "diluted" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "dilated" vs "diluted" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "dilated" and "diluted".
- Full dictionary entry for "dilated" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "diluted" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #215,963 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dilated" and "diluted" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "deflated vs dilated". 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 #215,963 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.