Which to use
“waited” is a verb and “walled” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #4,642
- “waited” frequency rank
- #16,618
- “walled” frequency rank
- 21260
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | waited | walled |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of wait | Pertaining to a wall; surrounded by a wall |
Letter map: waited vs walled
Shared letters muted; letters that set waited and walled apart highlighted. Shared run: 4. waited (CVVCVC) and walled (CVCCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Role in the sentence - waited and walled
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: waited is averb and walledanadjective. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 21260, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
waited is recorded at frequency rank #4,642, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈweɪt.ɪd/. walled is at rank #16,618, 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 21260, this pair ranks #425,167 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of waited vs walled
Shared letters: adew. Private to "waited": it. Private to "walled": l.
"waited" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC · "walled" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "waited" and "walled" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "waited" or "walled" show up more?
Useful next steps
Pair "waited" vs "walled" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.
- Full dictionary entry for "waited" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "walled" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #425,167 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "waited" and "walled" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "walled vs Willey". 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 #425,167 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.