Which to use
“mailed” and “mixed” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #14,991
- “mailed” frequency rank
- #2,305
- “mixed” frequency rank
- 17296
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | mailed | mixed |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of mail | simple past and past participle of mix |
Where the eye mixes mailed and mixed
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between mailed and mixed
A purely visual mix-up. mailed (/meɪld/) and mixed (/mɪkst/) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 17296, 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/. mixed is at rank #2,305, tagged as averb, pronounced /mɪkst/.
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 17296, this pair ranks #452,365 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of mailed vs mixed
Shared letters: deim. Private to "mailed": al. Private to "mixed": x.
"mailed" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC · "mixed" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "mailed" for "mixed" ever safe?
Frequency check: "mailed" vs "mixed" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "mailed" and "mixed" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "mailed" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "mixed" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #452,365 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "mailed" and "mixed" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mailed vs marbled". 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 #452,365 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.