Which to use
“trigger” is a noun and “triggered” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #4,723
- “trigger” frequency rank
- #7,297
- “triggered” frequency rank
- 12020
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | trigger | triggered |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A finger-operated lever used to fire a gun. | Having a trigger that reacts to some specific condition. |
Letter map: trigger vs triggered
Shared letters muted; letters that set trigger and triggered apart highlighted. Shared run: 7.
Role in the sentence - trigger and triggered
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: trigger is anoun and triggeredanadjective. On the page they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “trigger” sits inside “triggered”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12020, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
trigger is recorded at frequency rank #4,723, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈtɹɪɡə/. triggered is at rank #7,297, tagged as anadj.
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 12020, this pair ranks #483,865 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of trigger vs triggered
Shared letters: egirt. Private to "trigger": -. Private to "triggered": d.
"trigger" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC · "triggered" · 9 letters · shape CCVCCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "trigger" and "triggered" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary English text, does "trigger" or "triggered" show up more?
Useful next steps
Pair "trigger" vs "triggered" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.
- Full dictionary entry for "trigger" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "triggered" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #483,865 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "trigger" and "triggered" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Tigger vs trigger". 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 #483,865 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.