Which to use
“doubted” is an adjective and “doubts” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #16,218
- “doubted” frequency rank
- #7,677
- “doubts” frequency rank
- 23895
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | doubted | doubts |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Considered doubtful; not trusted; uncertain. | plural of doubt |
Where the eye mixes doubted and doubts
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. doubted runs 7 letters (CVVCCVC) against doubts's 6 (CVVCCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between doubted and doubts
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: doubted is /ˈdaʊtɪd/ while doubts is /daʊts/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 23895, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
doubted is recorded at frequency rank #16,218, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈdaʊtɪd/. doubts is at rank #7,677, tagged as anoun, pronounced /daʊts/.
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 23895, this pair ranks #405,970 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of doubted vs doubts
Shared letters: bdotu. Private to "doubted": e. Private to "doubts": s.
"doubted" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC · "doubts" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "doubted" and "doubts" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "doubted" or "doubts"?
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 "doubted" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "doubts" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #405,970 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "doubted" and "doubts" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "don'ts vs doubts". 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 #405,970 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.