respectvsrespectedWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: respect is a noun, respected is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“respect” is a noun and “respected” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#999
“respect” frequency rank
#6,007
“respected” frequency rank
7006
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature respect respected
Definition An attitude of consideration or high regard. Deserving of respect; due special honor or appreciation.

Where the eye mixes respect and respected

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.

7 ch
respect
9 ch
respected

Look-alike desk: respect vs respected

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: respect is /ɹɪˈspɛkt/ while respected is /ɹɪˈspɛktɪd/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “respect” sits inside “respected”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 7006, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

respect is recorded at frequency rank #999, classified as anoun, pronounced /ɹɪˈspɛkt/. respected is at rank #6,007, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ɹɪˈspɛktɪd/.

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 7006, this pair ranks #508,991 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of respect vs respected

Shared letters: ceprst. Private to "respect": -. Private to "respected": d.

"respect" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC  ·  "respected" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • respecterspect · repsect · resepct · respcet · respecct · respectt · respetc · resppect
  • respectederspected · repsected · resepcted · respceted · respeccted · respecetd · respectde · respectedd

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "respect" and "respected" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "respect" is a noun and "respected" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "respect" or "respected"?
"respect" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #999 in our English list, against #6,007 for "respected". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "respect" and "respected" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "respect" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "respected" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #508,991 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "respect" and "respected" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "repent vs respect". 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 #508,991 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list