eatenvsenterWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“eaten” and “enter” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#5,786
“eaten” frequency rank
#1,632
“enter” frequency rank
7418
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature eaten enter
Definition past participle of eat To go or come into an enclosed or partially enclosed space.

Where the eye mixes eaten and enter

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
eaten
5 ch
enter

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. eaten (/ˈiː.tn̩/) and enter (/ˈɛntə(ɹ)/) 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 7418, 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/. enter is at rank #1,632, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈɛntə(ɹ)/.

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 7418, this pair ranks #507,205 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of eaten vs enter

Shared letters: ent. Private to "eaten": a. Private to "enter": r.

"eaten" · 5 letters · shape VVCVC  ·  "enter" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • eatenaeten · eaetn · eatenn · eatne · eatten · etaen
  • enterenetr · ennter · enterr · entter · etner · neter

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "eaten" and "enter" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈiː.tn̩/ versus /ˈɛntə(ɹ)/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "eaten" or "enter"?
"enter" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,632 in our English list, against #5,786 for "eaten". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list