textedvstreatedWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#16,149
“texted” frequency rank
#2,022
“treated” frequency rank
18171
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature texted treated
Definition simple past and past participle of text simple past and past participle of treat

Where the eye mixes texted and treated

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

6 ch
texted
7 ch
treated

Look-alike desk: texted vs treated

A purely visual mix-up. texted (/tɛkstɪd/) and treated (/ˈtɹiːtɪd/) 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 18171, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

texted is recorded at frequency rank #16,149, classified as averb, pronounced /tɛkstɪd/. treated is at rank #2,022, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈtɹiːtɪd/.

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 18171, this pair ranks #446,682 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of texted vs treated

Shared letters: det. Private to "texted": x. Private to "treated": ar.

"texted" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "treated" · 7 letters · shape CCVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • textedetxted · tetxed · texetd · textde · textedd · textted · texxted · ttexted
  • treatedrteated · terated · traeted · treaetd · treatde · treatedd · treatted · tretaed

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "texted" for "treated" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/tɛkstɪd/ versus /ˈtɹiːtɪd/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "texted" or "treated"?
"treated" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,022 in our English list, against #16,149 for "texted". 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 "texted" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "treated" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #446,682 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "texted" and "treated" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "teared vs texted". 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 #446,682 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