maimedvsmiredWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: maimed is a adjective, mired is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“maimed” is an adjective and “mired” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#36,651
“maimed” frequency rank
#36,669
“mired” frequency rank
73320
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature maimed mired
Definition Partially or wholly deprived of the use of some part of the body, usually by wounding or injury. A unit of measurement for color temperature.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set maimed and mired apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
maimed
5 ch
mired

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: maimed is anadjective and miredanoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 73320, 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/. mired is at rank #36,669, tagged as anoun.

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 73320, this pair ranks #40,032 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of maimed vs mired

Shared letters: deim. Private to "maimed": a. Private to "mired": r.

"maimed" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC  ·  "mired" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • maimedamimed · maiemd · maimde · maimedd · maimmed · mamied · miamed · mmaimed
  • miredimred · mierd · mirde · miredd · mirred · mmired · mried

Frequency comparison

maimed#36,651
mired#36,669

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "maimed" and "mired" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "maimed" is an adjective and "mired" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "maimed" or "mired"?
"maimed" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #36,651 in our English list, against #36,669 for "mired". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering maimed vs mired

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “maimed”; for a noun, it's “mired”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “maimed” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list