Which to use
“indulged” is an adjective and “insulted” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #30,093
- “indulged” frequency rank
- #14,570
- “insulted” frequency rank
- 44663
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | indulged | insulted |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Having had all desires, wishes, and whims granted; having been brought up lavishly, wanting for nothing. | simple past and past participle of insult |
Where the eye mixes indulged and insulted
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. indulged and insulted follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: indulged vs insulted
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: indulged is /ɪnˈdʌld͡ʒd/ while insulted is /ɪnˈsʌltɪd/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44663, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
indulged is recorded at frequency rank #30,093, classified as anadj, pronounced /ɪnˈdʌld͡ʒd/. insulted is at rank #14,570, tagged as averb, pronounced /ɪnˈsʌltɪd/.
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 44663, this pair ranks #228,458 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of indulged vs insulted
Shared letters: deilnu. Private to "indulged": g. Private to "insulted": st.
"indulged" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCVC · "insulted" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "indulged" and "insulted" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "indulged" or "insulted"?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "indulged" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "insulted" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #228,458 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "indulged" and "insulted" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "indulged vs indulgent". 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 #228,458 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.