Which to use
“rout” is a noun and “routed” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #25,914
- “rout” frequency rank
- #19,442
- “routed” frequency rank
- 45356
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | rout | routed |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A group of people; a crowd, a throng, a troop; in particular (archaic), a group of people accompanying or travelling with someone. | simple past and past participle of route |
Where the spellings diverge
Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set rout and routed apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: rout is /ɹaʊt/ while routed is /ˈɹuː.tɪd/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “rout” sits inside “routed”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45356, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
rout is recorded at frequency rank #25,914, classified as anoun, pronounced /ɹaʊt/. 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 45356, this pair ranks #222,011 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of rout vs routed
Shared letters: ortu. Private to "rout": -. Private to "routed": de.
"rout" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "routed" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequency comparison
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "rout" and "routed" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "rout" or "routed"?
Remembering rout vs routed
The fastest way to pick the right one every time.
- Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “rout”; for a verb, it's “routed”.
- See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “rout” entry
- Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable