Which to use
“flaked” is a verb and “flaky” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #49,922
- “flaked” frequency rank
- #34,058
- “flaky” frequency rank
- 83980
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | flaked | flaky |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of flake | Consisting of flakes or of small, loose masses; lying, or cleaving off, in flakes or layers; flakelike. |
Where the eye mixes flaked and flaky
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between flaked and flaky
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: flaked is /fleɪkt/ while flaky is /ˈfleɪkiː/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 83980, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
flaked is recorded at frequency rank #49,922, classified as averb, pronounced /fleɪkt/. flaky is at rank #34,058, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈfleɪkiː/.
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 83980, this pair ranks #12,813 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of flaked vs flaky
Shared letters: afkl. Private to "flaked": de. Private to "flaky": y.
"flaked" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC · "flaky" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "flaked" and "flaky" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "flaked" or "flaky"?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "flaked" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "flaky" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #12,813 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "flaked" and "flaky" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "flaked vs flamed". 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 #12,813 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.