evacuatevsevacuatedWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: evacuate is a verb, evacuated is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#14,316
“evacuate” frequency rank
#11,887
“evacuated” frequency rank
26203
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature evacuate evacuated
Definition To leave or withdraw from; to quit; to retire from. Having had population removed, by evacuation.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set evacuate and evacuated apart are highlighted. They share 8 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

8 ch
evacuate
9 ch
evacuated

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: evacuate is averb and evacuatedanadjective. On the page they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “evacuate” sits inside “evacuated”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 26203, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

evacuate is recorded at frequency rank #14,316, classified as averb, pronounced /ɪˈvæk.ju.eɪt/. evacuated is at rank #11,887, 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 26203, this pair ranks #388,442 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of evacuate vs evacuated

Shared letters: acetuv. Private to "evacuate": -. Private to "evacuated": d.

"evacuate" · 8 letters · shape VCVCVVCV  ·  "evacuated" · 9 letters · shape VCVCVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • evacuateeavcuate · evacaute · evaccuate · evacuaet · evacuatte · evacutae · evaucate · evcauate
  • evacuatedeavcuated · evacauted · evaccuated · evacuaetd · evacuatde · evacuatedd · evacuatted · evacutaed

Frequency comparison

evacuate#14,316
evacuated#11,887

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "evacuate" and "evacuated" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "evacuate" is a verb and "evacuated" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "evacuate" or "evacuated"?
"evacuated" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,887 in our English list, against #14,316 for "evacuate". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering evacuate vs evacuated

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list