# happened vs hardened

> English confusable word pair

## The two words

### happened
*verb · IPA /ˈhæpənd/ · frequency rank #634*
simple past and past participle of happen

### hardened
*verb · IPA /ˈhɑːdn̩d/ · frequency rank #14,555*
simple past and past participle of harden

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/vs/happened-vs-hardened