Which to use
“excited” is an adjective and “excused” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #1,860
- “excited” frequency rank
- #20,111
- “excused” frequency rank
- 21971
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | excited | excused |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Having great enthusiasm, passion and energy. | simple past and past participle of excuse |
Where the spellings diverge
Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set excited and excused apart are highlighted. They share 5 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: excited is /ɪkˈsaɪtɪd/ while excused is /ɪkˈskjuːzd/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 21971, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
excited is recorded at frequency rank #1,860, classified as anadj, pronounced /ɪkˈsaɪtɪd/. excused is at rank #20,111, tagged as averb, pronounced /ɪkˈskjuːzd/.
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 21971, this pair ranks #420,008 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of excited vs excused
Shared letters: cdex. Private to "excited": it. Private to "excused": su.
"excited" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC · "excused" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequency comparison
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "excited" and "excused" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "excited" or "excused"?
Remembering excited vs excused
The fastest way to pick the right one every time.
- Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “excited”; for a verb, it's “excused”.
- See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “excited” entry
- Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable