rousedvsroutedWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#46,154
“roused” frequency rank
#19,442
“routed” frequency rank
65596
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature roused routed
Definition simple past and past participle of rouse simple past and past participle of route

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set roused and routed apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
roused
6 ch
routed

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. roused (/ˈɹaʊzd/) 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 differ by a single letter - s in “roused” becomes t in “routed”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 65596, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

roused is recorded at frequency rank #46,154, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈɹaʊzd/. 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 65596, this pair ranks #71,987 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of roused vs routed

Shared letters: deoru. Private to "roused": s. Private to "routed": t.

"roused" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC  ·  "routed" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • rousedorused · rosued · rouesd · rousde · rousedd · roussed · rroused · ruosed
  • routedoruted · rotued · rouetd · routde · routedd · routted · rrouted · ruoted

Frequency comparison

roused#46,154
routed#19,442

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "roused" and "routed" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈɹaʊzd/ versus /ˈɹuː.tɪd/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "roused" or "routed"?
"routed" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #19,442 in our English list, against #46,154 for "roused". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering roused vs routed

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “roused” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list