Which to use
“reward” is a noun and “rewarded” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #4,116
- “reward” frequency rank
- #9,526
- “rewarded” frequency rank
- 13642
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | reward | rewarded |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Something of value given in return for an act. | simple past and past participle of reward |
Where the eye mixes reward and rewarded
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. reward runs 6 letters (CVCVCC) against rewarded's 8 (CVCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between reward and rewarded
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: reward is /ɹɪˈwɔːd/ while rewarded is /ɹɪˈwɔɹdɪd/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “reward” sits inside “rewarded”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13642, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
reward is recorded at frequency rank #4,116, classified as anoun, pronounced /ɹɪˈwɔːd/. rewarded is at rank #9,526, tagged as averb, pronounced /ɹɪˈwɔɹdɪd/.
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 13642, this pair ranks #474,626 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of reward vs rewarded
Shared letters: aderw. Private to "reward": -. Private to "rewarded": -.
"reward" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC · "rewarded" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "reward" for "rewarded" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "reward" or "rewarded" show up more?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "reward" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "rewarded" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #474,626 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "reward" and "rewarded" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "rebar vs reward". 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 #474,626 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.