eatenvsextendWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#5,786
“eaten” frequency rank
#4,016
“extend” frequency rank
9802
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature eaten extend
Definition past participle of eat To increase in extent.

Where the eye mixes eaten and extend

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

5 ch
eaten
6 ch
extend

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. eaten (/ˈiː.tn̩/) and extend (/ɛkˈstɛnd/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 9802, 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/. extend is at rank #4,016, tagged as averb, pronounced /ɛkˈstɛnd/.

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 9802, this pair ranks #495,513 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of eaten vs extend

Shared letters: ent. Private to "eaten": a. Private to "extend": dx.

"eaten" · 5 letters · shape VVCVC  ·  "extend" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • eatenaeten · eaetn · eatenn · eatne · eatten · etaen
  • extendetxend · exetnd · extedn · extendd · extennd · extned · exttend · exxtend

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "eaten" and "extend" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈiː.tn̩/ versus /ɛkˈstɛnd/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "eaten" or "extend"?
"extend" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,016 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