Which to use
“wilt” is a verb and “wilted” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #21,980
- “wilt” frequency rank
- #47,423
- “wilted” frequency rank
- 69403
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | wilt | wilted |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To droop or become limp and flaccid (as a dying leaf or flower). | Drooping, typically due to lack of water. |
Letter map: wilt vs wilted
Shared letters muted; letters that set wilt and wilted apart highlighted. Shared run: 4. wilt runs 4 letters (CVCC) against wilted's 6 (CVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Role in the sentence - wilt and wilted
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: wilt is averb and wiltedanadjective. On the page they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “wilt” sits inside “wilted”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 69403, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
wilt is recorded at frequency rank #21,980, classified as averb, pronounced /wɪlt/. 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 69403, this pair ranks #54,714 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of wilt vs wilted
Shared letters: iltw. Private to "wilt": -. Private to "wilted": de.
"wilt" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "wilted" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "wilt" and "wilted" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "wilt" vs "wilted" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pair "wilt" vs "wilted" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.
- Full dictionary entry for "wilt" 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 #54,714 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "wilt" 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 #54,714 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.