Which to use
“emphasise” is a verb and “emphasized” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #26,410
- “emphasise” frequency rank
- #11,028
- “emphasized” frequency rank
- 37438
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | emphasise | emphasized |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | British standard spelling of emphasize. | Having been given extra stress or focus. |
Letter map: emphasise vs emphasized
Shared letters muted; letters that set emphasise and emphasized apart highlighted. Shared run: 8.
Role in the sentence - emphasise and emphasized
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: emphasise is averb and emphasizedanadjective. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37438, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
emphasise is recorded at frequency rank #26,410, classified as averb. emphasized is at rank #11,028, tagged as anadj.
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 37438, this pair ranks #294,584 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of emphasise vs emphasized
Shared letters: aehimps. Private to "emphasise": -. Private to "emphasized": dz.
"emphasise" · 9 letters · shape VCCCVCVCV · "emphasized" · 10 letters · shape VCCCVCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- emphasise ← emhpasise · emmphasise · empahsise · emphaisse · emphasies · emphasisse · emphassie · emphassise
- emphasized ← emhpasized · emmphasized · empahsized · emphaiszed · emphasiezd · emphasizde · emphasizedd · emphasizzed
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "emphasise" for "emphasized" ever safe?
Which is more common, "emphasise" or "emphasized"?
After this comparison
You've compared "emphasise" and "emphasized". Here's where to go from here.
- Full dictionary entry for "emphasise" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "emphasized" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #294,584 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "emphasise" and "emphasized" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "emphasise vs emphasize". 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 #294,584 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.