Which to use
“effect” is a noun and “effected” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #1,015
- “effect” frequency rank
- #19,321
- “effected” frequency rank
- 20336
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | effect | effected |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | The result or outcome of a cause. | simple past and past participle of effect |
Where the eye mixes effect and effected
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: effect is /ɪˈfɛkt/ while effected is /ɪˈfɛktɪd/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “effect” sits inside “effected”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 20336, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
effect is recorded at frequency rank #1,015, classified as anoun, pronounced /ɪˈfɛkt/. effected is at rank #19,321, tagged as averb, pronounced /ɪˈfɛktɪd/.
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 20336, this pair ranks #431,788 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of effect vs effected
Shared letters: ceft. Private to "effect": -. Private to "effected": d.
"effect" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCC · "effected" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCVC