Which to use
“skated” is a verb and “slate” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #37,226
- “skated” frequency rank
- #9,397
- “slate” frequency rank
- 46623
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | skated | slate |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of skate | A flake or piece of certain types of stone that tend to cleave into thin layers. |
Where the eye mixes skated and slate
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: skated vs slate
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: skated is /ˈskeɪtɪd/ while slate is /sleɪt/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46623, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
skated is recorded at frequency rank #37,226, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈskeɪtɪd/. slate is at rank #9,397, tagged as anoun, pronounced /sleɪt/.
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 46623, this pair ranks #209,988 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of skated vs slate
Shared letters: aest. Private to "skated": dk. Private to "slate": l.
"skated" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC · "slate" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "skated" and "slate" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "skated" or "slate" show up more?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "skated" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "slate" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #209,988 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "skated" and "slate" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "skated vs skirted". 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 #209,988 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.