Which to use
“regulate” and “regulated” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #8,716
- “regulate” frequency rank
- #7,384
- “regulated” frequency rank
- 16100
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | regulate | regulated |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To dictate policy. | simple past and past participle of regulate |
Where the eye mixes regulate and regulated
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between regulate and regulated
A purely visual mix-up. regulate (/ˈɹɛɡjəleɪ̯t/) and regulated (/ˈɹɛɡjəleɪtɪd/) 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 extra letter(s) - “regulate” sits inside “regulated”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 16100, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
regulate is recorded at frequency rank #8,716, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈɹɛɡjəleɪ̯t/. regulated is at rank #7,384, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈɹɛɡjəleɪtɪd/.
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 16100, this pair ranks #459,915 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of regulate vs regulated
Shared letters: aeglrtu. Private to "regulate": -. Private to "regulated": d.
"regulate" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVCV · "regulated" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "regulate" and "regulated" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "regulate" or "regulated"?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "regulate" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "regulated" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #459,915 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "regulate" and "regulated" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "regulate vs regulates". 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 #459,915 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.