Which to use
“infected” and “inflicted” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #5,803
- “infected” frequency rank
- #12,621
- “inflicted” frequency rank
- 18424
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | infected | inflicted |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of infect | simple past and past participle of inflict |
Letter map: infected vs inflicted
Shared letters muted; letters that set infected and inflicted apart highlighted. Shared run: 7. infected runs 8 letters (VCCVCCVC) against inflicted's 9 (VCCCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Corpus notes: infected and inflicted
infected and inflicted 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 18424, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
infected is recorded at frequency rank #5,803, classified as averb. inflicted is at rank #12,621, tagged as averb, pronounced /ɪnˈflɪktɪd/.
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 18424, this pair ranks #444,982 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of infected vs inflicted
Shared letters: cdefint. Private to "infected": -. Private to "inflicted": l.
"infected" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCVC · "inflicted" · 9 letters · shape VCCCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "infected" and "inflicted" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "infected" or "inflicted"?
After this comparison
You've compared "infected" and "inflicted". Here's where to go from here.
- Full dictionary entry for "infected" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "inflicted" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #444,982 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "infected" and "inflicted" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "inflected vs inflicted". 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 #444,982 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.