Which to use
“excite” is a verb and “excited” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #19,831
- “excite” frequency rank
- #1,860
- “excited” frequency rank
- 21691
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | excite | excited |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To stir the emotions of; to cause to feel excitement. | Having great enthusiasm, passion and energy. |
Where the spellings diverge
Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set excite and excited apart are highlighted. They share 6 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: excite is /ɪkˈsaɪt/ while excited is /ɪkˈsaɪtɪd/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “excite” sits inside “excited”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 21691, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
excite is recorded at frequency rank #19,831, classified as averb, pronounced /ɪkˈsaɪt/. excited is at rank #1,860, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ɪkˈsaɪtɪd/.
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 21691, this pair ranks #422,076 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of excite vs excited
Shared letters: ceitx. Private to "excite": -. Private to "excited": d.
"excite" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV · "excited" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequency comparison
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "excite" and "excited" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "excite" or "excited"?
Remembering excite vs excited
The fastest way to pick the right one every time.
- Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “excite”; for an adjective, it's “excited”.
- See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “excite” entry
- Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable