robbedvsroutedWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“robbed” and “routed” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#8,601
“robbed” frequency rank
#19,442
“routed” frequency rank
28043
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature robbed routed
Definition simple past and past participle of rob simple past and past participle of route

Where the eye mixes robbed and routed

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
robbed
6 ch
routed

Look-alike desk: robbed vs routed

A purely visual mix-up. robbed (/ɹɑbd/) and routed (/ˈɹuː.tɪd/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 28043, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

robbed is recorded at frequency rank #8,601, classified as averb, pronounced /ɹɑbd/. routed is at rank #19,442, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈɹuː.tɪd/.

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 28043, this pair ranks #374,185 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of robbed vs routed

Shared letters: deor. Private to "robbed": b. Private to "routed": tu.

"robbed" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "routed" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • robbedorbbed · rbobed · robbde · robbedd · robebd · robed · rrobbed
  • routedoruted · rotued · rouetd · routde · routedd · routted · rrouted · ruoted

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "robbed" and "routed" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ɹɑbd/ versus /ˈɹuː.tɪd/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary English text, does "robbed" or "routed" show up more?
"robbed" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,601 in our English list, against #19,442 for "routed". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "robbed" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "routed" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #374,185 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "robbed" and "routed" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "roused vs routed". 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 #374,185 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