Which to use
“utter” is an adjective and “uttered” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #9,003
- “utter” frequency rank
- #23,150
- “uttered” frequency rank
- 32153
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | utter | uttered |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To the furthest or most extreme extent; absolute, complete, total, unconditional. | simple past and past participle of utter |
Where the eye mixes utter and uttered
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses utter with uttered
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: utter is /ˈʌtə/ while uttered is /ˈʌtɚd/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “utter” sits inside “uttered”, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 32153, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
utter is recorded at frequency rank #9,003, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈʌtə/. uttered is at rank #23,150, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈʌtɚd/.
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 32153, this pair ranks #340,215 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of utter vs uttered
Shared letters: ertu. Private to "utter": -. Private to "uttered": d.
"utter" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC · "uttered" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "utter" and "uttered" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "utter" or "uttered" show up more?
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 "utter" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "uttered" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #340,215 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "utter" and "uttered" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Utley vs utter". 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 #340,215 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.