linkedvslistedWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: linked is a adjective, listed is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“linked” is an adjective and “listed” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#2,797
“linked” frequency rank
#2,080
“listed” frequency rank
4877
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature linked listed
Definition Connected, either with links, or as if with links. simple past and past participle of list

Where the eye mixes linked and listed

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
linked
6 ch
listed

Visual trap between linked and listed

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: linked is /lɪŋkt/ while listed is /ˈlɪst.ɪd/. 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 4877, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

linked is recorded at frequency rank #2,797, classified as anadj, pronounced /lɪŋkt/. 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 4877, this pair ranks #517,367 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of linked vs listed

Shared letters: deil. Private to "linked": kn. Private to "listed": st.

"linked" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "listed" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • linkedilnked · likned · linekd · linkde · linkedd · linkked · linnked · llinked
  • listedilsted · lisetd · lissted · listde · listedd · listted · litsed · llisted

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "linked" for "listed" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "linked" is an adjective and "listed" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "linked" vs "listed" - which ranks higher?
"listed" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,080 in our English list, against #2,797 for "linked". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "linked" 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 #517,367 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "linked" and "listed" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "linked vs linker". 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 #517,367 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