summonvssummonedWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#14,031
“summon” frequency rank
#10,287
“summoned” frequency rank
24318
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature summon summoned
Definition To call people together; to convene; to convoke. simple past and past participle of summon

Where the eye mixes summon and summoned

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

6 ch
summon
8 ch
summoned

Visual trap between summon and summoned

A purely visual mix-up. summon (/ˈsʌmən/) and summoned (/ˈsʌmənd/) 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 2 extra letter(s) - “summon” sits inside “summoned”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 24318, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

summon is recorded at frequency rank #14,031, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈsʌmən/. summoned is at rank #10,287, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈsʌmənd/.

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 24318, this pair ranks #402,868 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of summon vs summoned

Shared letters: mnosu. Private to "summon": -. Private to "summoned": de.

"summon" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "summoned" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • summonsmumon · ssummon · summno · summonn · sumomn · sumon · usmmon
  • summonedsmumoned · ssummoned · summnoed · summoend · summonde · summonedd · summonned · sumomned

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "summon" and "summoned" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/ˈsʌmən/ versus /ˈsʌmənd/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "summon" vs "summoned" - which ranks higher?
"summoned" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,287 in our English list, against #14,031 for "summon". 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 "summon" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "summoned" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #402,868 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "summon" and "summoned" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Shimon vs summon". 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 #402,868 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