Which to use
“recognize” is a verb and “recognized” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #2,908
- “recognize” frequency rank
- #2,909
- “recognized” frequency rank
- 5817
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | recognize | recognized |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To match (something or someone which one currently perceives) to a memory of some previous encounter with the same person or thing. | Notable; distinguished; honored. |
Where the eye mixes recognize and recognized
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: recognize vs recognized
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: recognize is /ˈɹɛk.əɡ.naɪz/ while recognized is /ˈɹɛkəɡnaɪzd/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “recognize” sits inside “recognized”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 5817, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
recognize is recorded at frequency rank #2,908, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈɹɛk.əɡ.naɪz/. recognized is at rank #2,909, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈɹɛkəɡnaɪzd/.
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 5817, this pair ranks #513,911 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of recognize vs recognized
Shared letters: ceginorz. Private to "recognize": -. Private to "recognized": d.
"recognize" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCVCV · "recognized" · 10 letters · shape CVCVCCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- recognize ← ercognize · rceognize · reccognize · recgonize · recoggnize · recoginze · recogniez · recognizze
- recognized ← ercognized · rceognized · reccognized · recgonized · recoggnized · recoginzed · recogniezd · recognizde
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "recognize" and "recognized" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "recognize" or "recognized" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "recognize" and "recognized" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "recognize" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "recognized" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #513,911 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "recognize" and "recognized" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "recognise vs recognized". 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 #513,911 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.