Which to use
“gated” and “gather” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #21,525
- “gated” frequency rank
- #4,762
- “gather” frequency rank
- 26287
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | gated | gather |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of gate | To collect normally separate things. |
Where the eye mixes gated and gather
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. gated runs 5 letters (CVCVC) against gather's 6 (CVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses gated with gather
A purely visual mix-up. gated (/ˈɡeɪtɪd/) and gather (/ˈɡæðə/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 26287, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
gated is recorded at frequency rank #21,525, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈɡeɪtɪd/. gather is at rank #4,762, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈɡæðə/.
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 26287, this pair ranks #387,832 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of gated vs gather
Shared letters: aegt. Private to "gated": d. Private to "gather": hr.
"gated" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "gather" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "gated" and "gather" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "gated" or "gather"?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "gated" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "gather" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #387,832 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "gated" and "gather" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "gare vs gated". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #387,832 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.