Which to use
“overtaken” is a verb and “overtaking” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #24,264
- “overtaken” frequency rank
- #28,657
- “overtaking” frequency rank
- 52921
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | overtaken | overtaking |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | past participle of overtake | The act by which one thing overtakes another. |
Letter map: overtaken vs overtaking
Shared letters muted; letters that set overtaken and overtaking apart highlighted. Shared run: 8. overtaken runs 9 letters (VCVCCVCVC) against overtaking's 10 (VCVCCVCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Part-of-speech tell for overtaken / overtaking
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: overtaken is averb and overtakinganoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 52921, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
overtaken is recorded at frequency rank #24,264, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈəʊvəɹteɪkən/. overtaking is at rank #28,657, tagged as anoun.
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 52921, this pair ranks #153,099 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of overtaken vs overtaking
Shared letters: aeknortv. Private to "overtaken": -. Private to "overtaking": gi.
"overtaken" · 9 letters · shape VCVCCVCVC · "overtaking" · 10 letters · shape VCVCCVCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- overtaken ← oevrtaken · overatken · overrtaken · overtaekn · overtakenn · overtakken · overtakne · overtkaen
- overtaking ← oevrtaking · overatking · overrtaking · overtaikng · overtakign · overtakingg · overtakinng · overtakking
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "overtaken" and "overtaking" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary English text, does "overtaken" or "overtaking" show up more?
Useful next steps
Pair "overtaken" vs "overtaking" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.
- Full dictionary entry for "overtaken" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "overtaking" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #153,099 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "overtaken" and "overtaking" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "overtake vs overtaken". 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 #153,099 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.