visitvsvisitedWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#980
“visit” frequency rank
#3,033
“visited” frequency rank
4013
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature visit visited
Definition To habitually go to (someone in distress, sickness etc.) to comfort them. (Now generally merged into later senses, below.) past participle of visit

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set visit and visited apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
visit
7 ch
visited

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

visit and visited form a confusable pair in the English index, two distinct headwords that are easily confused because they look alike, sound alike, or both. They differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “visit” sits inside “visited” - close enough that the eye skips over the difference, far enough that meaning fully diverges. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 4013, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

visit is recorded at frequency rank #980, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈvɪzɪt/. visited is at rank #3,033, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈvɪzɪtɪd/.

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 4013, this pair ranks #520,281 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Frequency comparison

visit#980
visited#3,033

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "visit" and "visited" be used interchangeably?
No, "visit" and "visited" have distinct meanings and cannot be swapped without changing the meaning of a sentence. Understanding the specific definition and context for each word is essential for correct usage.

Remembering visit vs visited

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “visit” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list