Which to use
“maimed” and “marked” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #36,651
- “maimed” frequency rank
- #3,007
- “marked” frequency rank
- 39658
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | maimed | marked |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Partially or wholly deprived of the use of some part of the body, usually by wounding or injury. | Having a visible or identifying mark. |
Where the eye mixes maimed and marked
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. maimed (CVVCVC) and marked (CVCCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Look-alike desk: maimed vs marked
A purely visual mix-up. maimed (/meɪmd/) and marked (/mɑːkt/) 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 39658, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
maimed is recorded at frequency rank #36,651, classified as anadj, pronounced /meɪmd/. marked is at rank #3,007, tagged as anadj, pronounced /mɑːkt/.
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 39658, this pair ranks #274,686 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of maimed vs marked
Shared letters: adem. Private to "maimed": i. Private to "marked": kr.
"maimed" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC · "marked" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "maimed" for "marked" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "maimed" or "marked" show up more?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "maimed" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "marked" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #274,686 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "maimed" and "marked" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "maim vs maimed". 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 #274,686 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.