taskedvsthankedConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#14,435
“tasked” frequency rank
#12,341
“thanked” frequency rank
26776
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tasked thanked
Definition simple past and past participle of task simple past and past participle of thank

Where the eye mixes tasked and thanked

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

6 ch
tasked
7 ch
thanked

Look-alike desk: tasked vs thanked

A purely visual mix-up. tasked (/tæskt/) and thanked (/θæŋkt/) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 26776, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

tasked is recorded at frequency rank #14,435, classified as averb, pronounced /tæskt/. thanked is at rank #12,341, tagged as averb, pronounced /θæŋkt/.

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 26776, this pair ranks #384,168 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of tasked vs thanked

Shared letters: adekt. Private to "tasked": s. Private to "thanked": hn.

"tasked" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "thanked" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • taskedatsked · taksed · tasekd · taskde · taskedd · taskked · tassked · tsaked
  • thankedhtanked · tahnked · thakned · thanekd · thankde · thankedd · thankked · thannked

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "tasked" for "thanked" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/tæskt/ versus /θæŋkt/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "tasked" vs "thanked" - which ranks higher?
"thanked" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,341 in our English list, against #14,435 for "tasked". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "tasked" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "thanked" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #384,168 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "tasked" and "thanked" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tasked vs tasker". 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 #384,168 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