Which to use
“flaked” and “flamed” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #49,922
- “flaked” frequency rank
- #48,238
- “flamed” frequency rank
- 98160
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | flaked | flamed |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of flake | simple past and past participle of flame |
Where the eye mixes flaked and flamed
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. flaked and flamed follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses flaked with flamed
A purely visual mix-up. flaked (/fleɪkt/) and flamed (/fleɪmd/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by a single letter - k in “flaked” becomes m in “flamed”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 98160, 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/. flamed is at rank #48,238, tagged as averb, pronounced /fleɪmd/.
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 98160, this pair ranks #177 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of flaked vs flamed
Shared letters: adefl. Private to "flaked": k. Private to "flamed": m.
"flaked" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC · "flamed" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "flaked" for "flamed" ever safe?
Which is more common, "flaked" or "flamed"?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "flaked" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "flamed" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #177 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "flaked" and "flamed" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "flaked vs fluted". 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 #177 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.