Which to use
“marched” is a verb and “marked” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #10,395
- “marched” frequency rank
- #3,007
- “marked” frequency rank
- 13402
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | marched | marked |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of march | Having a visible or identifying mark. |
Where the eye mixes marched and marked
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. marched runs 7 letters (CVCCCVC) against marked's 6 (CVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between marched and marked
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: marched is /mɑɹt͡ʃt/ while marked is /mɑːkt/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13402, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
marched is recorded at frequency rank #10,395, classified as averb, pronounced /mɑɹt͡ʃt/. 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 13402, this pair ranks #476,034 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of marched vs marked
Shared letters: ademr. Private to "marched": ch. Private to "marked": k.
"marched" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVC · "marked" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "marched" and "marked" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary English text, does "marched" or "marked" show up more?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "marched" 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 #476,034 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "marched" and "marked" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "marbled vs marched". 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 #476,034 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.