exoneratevsexoneratedWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#46,451
“exonerate” frequency rank
#31,974
“exonerated” frequency rank
78425
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature exonerate exonerated
Definition To relieve (someone or something) of a load; to unburden (a load). Freed from any question of guilt, acquitted.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set exonerate and exonerated apart are highlighted. They share 9 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

9 ch
exonerate
10 ch
exonerated

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: exonerate is averb and exoneratedanadjective. On the page they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “exonerate” sits inside “exonerated”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 78425, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

exonerate is recorded at frequency rank #46,451, classified as averb, pronounced /ɪɡˈzɒnəɹeɪt/. exonerated is at rank #31,974, 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 78425, this pair ranks #24,684 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of exonerate vs exonerated

Shared letters: aenortx. Private to "exonerate": -. Private to "exonerated": d.

"exonerate" · 9 letters · shape VCVCVCVCV  ·  "exonerated" · 10 letters · shape VCVCVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • exonerateeoxnerate · exnoerate · exoenrate · exonearte · exoneraet · exoneratte · exonerrate · exonertae
  • exoneratedeoxnerated · exnoerated · exoenrated · exonearted · exoneraetd · exoneratde · exoneratedd · exoneratted

Frequency comparison

exonerate#46,451
exonerated#31,974

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "exonerate" and "exonerated" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "exonerate" is a verb and "exonerated" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "exonerate" or "exonerated"?
"exonerated" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #31,974 in our English list, against #46,451 for "exonerate". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering exonerate vs exonerated

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “exonerate”; for an adjective, it's “exonerated”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “exonerate” 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