Which to use
“gift” is a noun and “gifted” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #1,721
- “gift” frequency rank
- #8,429
- “gifted” frequency rank
- 10150
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | gift | gifted |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Something given to another voluntarily, without charge. | Endowed with special, in particular intellectual, abilities. |
Where the eye mixes gift and gifted
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. gift runs 4 letters (CVCC) against gifted's 6 (CVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses gift with gifted
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: gift is /ɡɪft/ while gifted is /ˈɡɪftɪd/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “gift” sits inside “gifted”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 10150, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
gift is recorded at frequency rank #1,721, classified as anoun, pronounced /ɡɪft/. gifted is at rank #8,429, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈɡɪftɪd/.
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 10150, this pair ranks #493,731 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of gift vs gifted
Shared letters: fgit. Private to "gift": -. Private to "gifted": de.
"gift" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "gifted" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "gift" and "gifted" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "gift" vs "gifted" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "gift" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "gifted" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #493,731 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "gift" and "gifted" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Geist vs gift". 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 #493,731 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.