Which to use
“mailed” and “massed” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #14,991
- “mailed” frequency rank
- #35,823
- “massed” frequency rank
- 50814
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | mailed | massed |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of mail | simple past and past participle of mass |
Where the eye mixes mailed and massed
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: mailed vs massed
A purely visual mix-up. mailed (/meɪld/) and massed (/mæst/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50814, 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/. massed is at rank #35,823, tagged as averb, pronounced /mæst/.
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 50814, this pair ranks #170,917 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of mailed vs massed
Shared letters: adem. Private to "mailed": il. Private to "massed": s.
"mailed" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC · "massed" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "mailed" and "massed" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "mailed" or "massed"?
Useful next steps
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 "massed" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #170,917 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "mailed" and "massed" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Masood vs massed". 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 #170,917 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.