Which to use
“maimed” is an adjective and “masked” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #36,651
- “maimed” frequency rank
- #12,101
- “masked” frequency rank
- 48752
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | maimed | masked |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Partially or wholly deprived of the use of some part of the body, usually by wounding or injury. | simple past and past participle of mask |
Where the eye mixes maimed and masked
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. maimed (CVVCVC) and masked (CVCCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Look-alike desk: maimed vs masked
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: maimed is /meɪmd/ while masked is /mɑːskt/. 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 (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48752, 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/. masked is at rank #12,101, tagged as averb, pronounced /mɑːskt/.
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 48752, this pair ranks #190,084 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of maimed vs masked
Shared letters: adem. Private to "maimed": i. Private to "masked": ks.
"maimed" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC · "masked" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "maimed" and "masked" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "maimed" or "masked"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "maimed" and "masked" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "maimed" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "masked" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #190,084 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "maimed" and "masked" 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 #190,084 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.