lightedvslistedConfusable pair

Which to use

“lighted” and “listed” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#23,588
“lighted” frequency rank
#2,080
“listed” frequency rank
25668
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature lighted listed
Definition simple past and past participle of light simple past and past participle of list

Where the eye mixes lighted and listed

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

7 ch
lighted
6 ch
listed

Visual trap between lighted and listed

A purely visual mix-up. lighted (/ˈlaɪtəd/) and listed (/ˈlɪst.ɪd/) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 25668, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

lighted is recorded at frequency rank #23,588, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈlaɪtəd/. listed is at rank #2,080, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈlɪst.ɪd/.

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 25668, this pair ranks #392,551 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of lighted vs listed

Shared letters: deilt. Private to "lighted": gh. Private to "listed": s.

"lighted" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVC  ·  "listed" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • lightedilghted · lgihted · ligghted · lighetd · lighhted · lightde · lightedd · lightted
  • listedilsted · lisetd · lissted · listde · listedd · listted · litsed · llisted

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "lighted" and "listed" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈlaɪtəd/ versus /ˈlɪst.ɪd/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "lighted" or "listed"?
"listed" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,080 in our English list, against #23,588 for "lighted". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "lighted" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "listed" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #392,551 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "lighted" and "listed" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "lisle vs listed". 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 #392,551 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list