# participate vs participle

> English confusable word pair

## The two words

### participate
*verb · IPA /pɑːˈtɪs.ɪ.peɪt/ · frequency rank #3,518*
To join in, to take part, to involve oneself (in something).

### participle
*noun · IPA /pɑːˈtɪsɪpəl/ · frequency rank #43,828*
A form of a verb that may function as an adjective, noun or adverb. English has two types of participles: the present participle and the past participle. In other languages, there are others, such as future, perfect, and future perfect participles.

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/vs/participate-vs-participle