Which to use
“waited” is a verb and “wilted” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #4,642
- “waited” frequency rank
- #47,423
- “wilted” frequency rank
- 52065
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | waited | wilted |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of wait | Drooping, typically due to lack of water. |
Letter map: waited vs wilted
Shared letters muted; letters that set waited and wilted apart highlighted. Shared run: 5. waited (CVVCVC) and wilted (CVCCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Part-of-speech tell for waited / wilted
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: waited is averb and wiltedanadjective. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 52065, 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/. wilted is at rank #47,423, 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 52065, this pair ranks #160,159 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of waited vs wilted
Shared letters: deitw. Private to "waited": a. Private to "wilted": l.
"waited" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC · "wilted" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "waited" and "wilted" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary English text, does "waited" or "wilted" show up more?
What to do next
Pair "waited" vs "wilted" 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 "wilted" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #160,159 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "waited" and "wilted" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Willey vs wilted". 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 #160,159 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.