Which to use
“soaked” and “sorted” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #11,970
- “soaked” frequency rank
- #9,253
- “sorted” frequency rank
- 21223
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | soaked | sorted |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of soak | simple past and past participle of sort |
Where the eye mixes soaked and sorted
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses soaked with sorted
A purely visual mix-up. soaked (/səʊkt/) and sorted (/ˈsɔɹtɪd/) 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 21223, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
soaked is recorded at frequency rank #11,970, classified as averb, pronounced /səʊkt/. sorted is at rank #9,253, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈsɔɹtɪd/.
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 21223, this pair ranks #425,459 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of soaked vs sorted
Shared letters: deos. Private to "soaked": ak. Private to "sorted": rt.
"soaked" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC · "sorted" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "soaked" for "sorted" ever safe?
Which is more common, "soaked" or "sorted"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "soaked" and "sorted" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "soaked" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "sorted" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #425,459 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "soaked" and "sorted" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "soaked vs sowed". 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 #425,459 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.