Which to use
“doubled” is a verb and “doubted” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #8,413
- “doubled” frequency rank
- #16,218
- “doubted” frequency rank
- 24631
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | doubled | doubted |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of double | Considered doubtful; not trusted; uncertain. |
Where the eye mixes doubled and doubted
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses doubled with doubted
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: doubled is /ˈdʌbl̩d/ while doubted is /ˈdaʊtɪd/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - l in “doubled” becomes t in “doubted”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 24631, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
doubled is recorded at frequency rank #8,413, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈdʌbl̩d/. doubted is at rank #16,218, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈdaʊtɪd/.
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 24631, this pair ranks #400,558 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of doubled vs doubted
Shared letters: bdeou. Private to "doubled": l. Private to "doubted": t.
"doubled" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC · "doubted" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "doubled" for "doubted" ever safe?
Which is more common, "doubled" or "doubted"?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "doubled" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "doubted" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #400,558 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "doubled" and "doubted" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "doubted vs dusted". 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 #400,558 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.