Which to use
“threaten” and “threatened” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #7,861
- “threaten” frequency rank
- #3,913
- “threatened” frequency rank
- 11774
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | threaten | threatened |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To make a threat against someone; to use threats. | simple past and past participle of threaten |
Where the eye mixes threaten and threatened
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. threaten runs 8 letters (CCCVVCVC) against threatened's 10 (CCCVVCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses threaten with threatened
A purely visual mix-up. threaten (/ˈθɹɛt.n̩/) and threatened (/ˈθɹɛt.n̩d/) 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) - “threaten” sits inside “threatened”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 11774, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
threaten is recorded at frequency rank #7,861, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈθɹɛt.n̩/. threatened is at rank #3,913, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈθɹɛt.n̩d/.
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 11774, this pair ranks #485,195 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of threaten vs threatened
Shared letters: aehnrt. Private to "threaten": -. Private to "threatened": d.
"threaten" · 8 letters · shape CCCVVCVC · "threatened" · 10 letters · shape CCCVVCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- threaten ← htreaten · theraten · thhreaten · thraeten · threaetn · threatenn · threatne · threatten
- threatened ← htreatened · theratened · thhreatened · thraetened · threaetned · threateend · threatende · threatenedd
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "threaten" for "threatened" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "threaten" or "threatened" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "threaten" and "threatened" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "threaten" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "threatened" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #485,195 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "threaten" and "threatened" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "threaten vs throated". 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 #485,195 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.