Which to use
“located” and “locked” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,460
- “located” frequency rank
- #3,438
- “locked” frequency rank
- 4898
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | located | locked |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of locate | simple past and past participle of lock |
Where the eye mixes located and locked
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between located and locked
A purely visual mix-up. located (/ləʊˈkeɪtɪd/) and locked (/lɒkt/) 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 4898, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
located is recorded at frequency rank #1,460, classified as averb, pronounced /ləʊˈkeɪtɪd/. locked is at rank #3,438, tagged as averb, pronounced /lɒkt/.
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 4898, this pair ranks #517,298 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of located vs locked
Shared letters: cdelo. Private to "located": at. Private to "locked": k.
"located" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC · "locked" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "located" for "locked" ever safe?
Frequency check: "located" vs "locked" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "located" and "locked" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "located" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "locked" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #517,298 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "located" and "locked" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "locked vs lockup". 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 #517,298 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.