elated vs exalted, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“elated” is an adjective and “exalted” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#30,017
“elated” frequency rank: #23,828
“exalted” frequency rank: 53845
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	elated	exalted
Definition	Extremely happy and excited; delighted; pleased, euphoric.	simple past and past participle of exalt

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set elated and exalted apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch

elated

7 ch

exalted

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: elated is /ɪˈleɪtɪd/ while exalted is /ɪɡˈzɔːltɪd/. 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 (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 53845, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

elated is recorded at frequency rank #30,017, classified as anadj, pronounced /ɪˈleɪtɪd/. exalted is at rank #23,828, tagged as averb, pronounced /ɪɡˈzɔːltɪd/.

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 53845, this pair ranks #145,725 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of elated vs exalted

Shared letters: adelt. Private to "elated": -. Private to "exalted": x.

"elated" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVC · "exalted" · 7 letters · shape VCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

elated ← ealted · elaetd · elatde · elatedd · elatted · ellated · eltaed · leated
exalted ← eaxlted · exaletd · exallted · exaltde · exaltedd · exaltted · exatled · exlated

Frequency comparison

elated#30,017

exalted#23,828

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "elated" and "exalted" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "elated" is an adjective and "exalted" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "elated" or "exalted"?

"exalted" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #23,828 in our English list, against #30,017 for "elated". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering elated vs exalted

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “elated”; for a verb, it's “exalted”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “elated” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable