Which to use
“enable” is a verb and “enabled” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #4,298
- “enable” frequency rank
- #5,960
- “enabled” frequency rank
- 10258
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | enable | enabled |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To make somebody able (to do, or to be, something); to give sufficient ability or power to do or to be; to give strength or ability to. | Being capable for use or action; not disabled. |
Where the spellings diverge
Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set enable and enabled apart are highlighted. They share 6 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
enable and enabled form a confusable pair in the English index, two distinct headwords that are easily confused because they look alike, sound alike, or both. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “enable” sits inside “enabled” - close enough that the eye skips over the difference, far enough that meaning fully diverges. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 10258, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
enable is recorded at frequency rank #4,298, classified as averb, pronounced /ɪˈneɪbəl/. enabled is at rank #5,960, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ɛˈneɪbl̩d/.
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 10258, this pair ranks #493,217 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Frequency comparison
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "enable" and "enabled" be used interchangeably?
Remembering enable vs enabled
The fastest way to pick the right one every time.
- Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “enable”; for an adjective, it's “enabled”.
- See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “enable” entry
- Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable