Which to use
“eaten” is a verb and “eatery” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #5,786
- “eaten” frequency rank
- #37,900
- “eatery” frequency rank
- 43686
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | eaten | eatery |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | past participle of eat | A restaurant or café; a place to purchase and eat food. |
Where the eye mixes eaten and eatery
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: eaten is /ˈiː.tn̩/ while eatery is /ˈiːtəɹi/. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43686, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
eaten is recorded at frequency rank #5,786, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈiː.tn̩/. eatery is at rank #37,900, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈiːtəɹi/.
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 43686, this pair ranks #237,610 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of eaten vs eatery
Shared letters: aet. Private to "eaten": n. Private to "eatery": ry.
"eaten" · 5 letters · shape VVCVC · "eatery" · 6 letters · shape VVCVCV