Which to use
“persist” and “persisted” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #14,381
- “persist” frequency rank
- #18,651
- “persisted” frequency rank
- 33032
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | persist | persisted |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To go on stubbornly or resolutely. | simple past and past participle of persist |
Where the eye mixes persist and persisted
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. persist runs 7 letters (CVCCVCC) against persisted's 9 (CVCCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses persist with persisted
A purely visual mix-up. persist (/pɚˈsɪst/) and persisted (/pɚˈsɪstɪd/) 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 2 extra letter(s) - “persist” sits inside “persisted”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 33032, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
persist is recorded at frequency rank #14,381, classified as averb, pronounced /pɚˈsɪst/. persisted is at rank #18,651, tagged as averb, pronounced /pɚˈsɪstɪd/.
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 33032, this pair ranks #332,828 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of persist vs persisted
Shared letters: eiprst. Private to "persist": -. Private to "persisted": d.
"persist" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC · "persisted" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "persist" and "persisted" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "persist" vs "persisted" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "persist" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "persisted" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #332,828 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "persist" and "persisted" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "persist vs purist". 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 #332,828 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.