Which to use
“hasten” and “hastened” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #31,591
- “hasten” frequency rank
- #40,279
- “hastened” frequency rank
- 71870
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | hasten | hastened |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To move or act in a quick fashion. | simple past and past participle of hasten |
Where the eye mixes hasten and hastened
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. hasten runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against hastened's 8 (CVCCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: hasten vs hastened
A purely visual mix-up. hasten (/ˈheɪ.sn̩/) and hastened (/ˈheɪsn̩d/) 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 2 extra letter(s) - “hasten” sits inside “hastened”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 71870, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
hasten is recorded at frequency rank #31,591, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈheɪ.sn̩/. hastened is at rank #40,279, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈheɪsn̩d/.
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 71870, this pair ranks #45,059 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of hasten vs hastened
Shared letters: aehnst. Private to "hasten": -. Private to "hastened": d.
"hasten" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "hastened" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "hasten" for "hastened" ever safe?
Which is more common, "hasten" or "hastened"?
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 "hasten" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "hastened" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #45,059 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "hasten" and "hastened" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hasta vs hasten". 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 #45,059 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.