Which to use
“diverted” and “divorced” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #15,149
- “diverted” frequency rank
- #6,674
- “divorced” frequency rank
- 21823
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | diverted | divorced |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | that has been subject to diversion | Cut off, or separated. |
Where the eye mixes diverted and divorced
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. diverted and divorced follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between diverted and divorced
A purely visual mix-up. diverted (/daɪˈvɜːtəd/) and divorced (/dɪˈvɔː(ɹ)st/) 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 21823, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
diverted is recorded at frequency rank #15,149, classified as anadj, pronounced /daɪˈvɜːtəd/. divorced is at rank #6,674, tagged as anadj, pronounced /dɪˈvɔː(ɹ)st/.
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 21823, this pair ranks #421,097 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of diverted vs divorced
Shared letters: deirv. Private to "diverted": t. Private to "divorced": co.
"diverted" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC · "divorced" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "diverted" for "divorced" ever safe?
Which is more common, "diverted" or "divorced"?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "diverted" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "divorced" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #421,097 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "diverted" and "divorced" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "diverge vs diverted". 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 #421,097 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.