Which to use
“effected” and “elected” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #19,321
- “effected” frequency rank
- #2,341
- “elected” frequency rank
- 21662
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | effected | elected |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of effect | simple past and past participle of elect |
Where the eye mixes effected and elected
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses effected with elected
A purely visual mix-up. effected (/ɪˈfɛktɪd/) and elected (/ɪˈlɛktɪd/) 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 21662, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
effected is recorded at frequency rank #19,321, classified as averb, pronounced /ɪˈfɛktɪd/. elected is at rank #2,341, tagged as averb, pronounced /ɪˈlɛktɪd/.
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 21662, this pair ranks #422,286 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of effected vs elected
Shared letters: cdet. Private to "effected": f. Private to "elected": l.
"effected" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCVC · "elected" · 7 letters · shape VCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "effected" for "elected" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "effected" or "elected" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "effected" and "elected" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "effected" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "elected" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #422,286 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "effected" and "elected" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "effected vs effector". 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 #422,286 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.