Which to use
“maiden” is a noun and “maimed” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #9,359
- “maiden” frequency rank
- #36,651
- “maimed” frequency rank
- 46010
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | maiden | maimed |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A girl or an unmarried young woman. | Partially or wholly deprived of the use of some part of the body, usually by wounding or injury. |
Where the spellings diverge
Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set maiden and maimed apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
maiden and maimed form a confusable pair in the English index, two distinct headwords that are easily confused because they look alike, sound alike, or both. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions - close enough that the eye skips over the difference, far enough that meaning fully diverges. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46010, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
maiden is recorded at frequency rank #9,359, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈmeɪdən/. maimed is at rank #36,651, tagged as anadj, pronounced /meɪmd/.
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 46010, this pair ranks #215,853 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Frequency comparison
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "maiden" and "maimed" be used interchangeably?
Remembering maiden vs maimed
The fastest way to pick the right one every time.
- Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “maiden”; for an adjective, it's “maimed”.
- See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “maiden” entry
- Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable