Which to use
“mailed” is a verb and “mallet” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #14,991
- “mailed” frequency rank
- #28,987
- “mallet” frequency rank
- 43978
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | mailed | mallet |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of mail | A type of hammer with a larger-than-usual head made of wood, rubber or similar non-iron material, used by woodworkers for driving a tool, such as a chisel. A kind of maul. |
Where the eye mixes mailed and mallet
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: mailed vs mallet
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: mailed is /meɪld/ while mallet is /ˈmælɪt/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43978, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
mailed is recorded at frequency rank #14,991, classified as averb, pronounced /meɪld/. mallet is at rank #28,987, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈmælɪt/.
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 43978, this pair ranks #234,857 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of mailed vs mallet
Shared letters: aelm. Private to "mailed": di. Private to "mallet": t.
"mailed" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC · "mallet" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "mailed" for "mallet" ever safe?
Which is more common, "mailed" or "mallet"?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "mailed" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "mallet" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #234,857 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "mailed" and "mallet" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Malden vs mallet". 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 #234,857 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.