weightvsweightedTell them apart

Quick tell: weight is a noun, weighted is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“weight” is a noun and “weighted” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#1,036
“weight” frequency rank
#11,639
“weighted” frequency rank
12675
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature weight weighted
Definition The downwards force an object experiences due to gravity. simple past and past participle of weight

Where the eye mixes weight and weighted

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

6 ch
weight
8 ch
weighted

Visual trap between weight and weighted

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: weight is /weɪt/ while weighted is /ˈweɪ.tɪd/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “weight” sits inside “weighted”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12675, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

weight is recorded at frequency rank #1,036, classified as anoun, pronounced /weɪt/. weighted is at rank #11,639, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈweɪ.tɪd/.

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 12675, this pair ranks #480,191 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of weight vs weighted

Shared letters: eghitw. Private to "weight": -. Private to "weighted": d.

"weight" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCC  ·  "weighted" · 8 letters · shape CVVCCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • weightewight · wegiht · weigght · weighht · weightt · weigth · weihgt · wieght
  • weightedewighted · wegihted · weigghted · weighetd · weighhted · weightde · weightedd · weightted

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "weight" for "weighted" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "weight" is a noun and "weighted" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "weight" or "weighted"?
"weight" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,036 in our English list, against #11,639 for "weighted". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "weight" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "weighted" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #480,191 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "weight" and "weighted" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "weighted vs weighty". 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 #480,191 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list