Which to use
“infect” and “infected” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #18,109
- “infect” frequency rank
- #5,803
- “infected” frequency rank
- 23912
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | infect | infected |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To bring (the body or part of it) into contact with a substance that causes illness (a pathogen), so that the pathogen begins to act on the body; (of a pathogen) to come into contact with (a body or body part) and begin to act on it. | simple past and past participle of infect |
Letter map: infect vs infected
Shared letters muted; letters that set infect and infected apart highlighted. Shared run: 6. infect runs 6 letters (VCCVCC) against infected's 8 (VCCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Spelling & dictionary notes on infect vs infected
infect and infected are indexed as a confusable English pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “infect” sits inside “infected”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 23912, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
infect is recorded at frequency rank #18,109, classified as averb, pronounced /ɪnˈfɛkt/. infected is at rank #5,803, tagged as averb.
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 23912, this pair ranks #405,855 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of infect vs infected
Shared letters: cefint. Private to "infect": -. Private to "infected": d.
"infect" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCC · "infected" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "infect" for "infected" ever safe?
Which is more common, "infect" or "infected"?
What to do next
Pair "infect" vs "infected" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.
- Full dictionary entry for "infect" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "infected" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #405,855 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "infect" and "infected" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "infect vs invert". 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 #405,855 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.