Which to use
“maim” is a verb and “maimed” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #44,918
- “maim” frequency rank
- #36,651
- “maimed” frequency rank
- 81569
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | maim | maimed |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To wound seriously; to cause permanent loss of function of a limb or part of the body. | Partially or wholly deprived of the use of some part of the body, usually by wounding or injury. |
Where the eye mixes maim and maimed
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. maim runs 4 letters (CVVC) against maimed's 6 (CVVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses maim with maimed
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: maim is /meɪm/ while maimed is /meɪmd/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “maim” sits inside “maimed”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 81569, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
maim is recorded at frequency rank #44,918, classified as averb, pronounced /meɪm/. 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 81569, this pair ranks #17,434 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of maim vs maimed
Shared letters: aim. Private to "maim": -. Private to "maimed": de.
"maim" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "maimed" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "maim" and "maimed" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "maim" or "maimed"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "maim" and "maimed" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "maim" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "maimed" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #17,434 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "maim" and "maimed" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "maim vs marl". 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 #17,434 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.