Which to use
“tempered” is an adjective and “tempted” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #14,438
- “tempered” frequency rank
- #8,870
- “tempted” frequency rank
- 23308
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | tempered | tempted |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Having a specified disposition or temper. | simple past and past participle of tempt |
Letter map: tempered vs tempted
Shared letters muted; letters that set tempered and tempted apart highlighted. Shared run: 6.
Role in the sentence - tempered and tempted
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: tempered is anadjective and temptedaverb. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 23308, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
tempered is recorded at frequency rank #14,438, classified as anadj. tempted is at rank #8,870, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈtɛmptɪd/.
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 23308, this pair ranks #410,272 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of tempered vs tempted
Shared letters: dempt. Private to "tempered": r. Private to "tempted": -.
"tempered" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC · "tempted" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "tempered" and "tempted" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "tempered" vs "tempted" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Pair "tempered" vs "tempted" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.
- Full dictionary entry for "tempered" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "tempted" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #410,272 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "tempered" and "tempted" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tempered vs tethered". 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 #410,272 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.