Which to use
“marked” is an adjective and “masked” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #3,007
- “marked” frequency rank
- #12,101
- “masked” frequency rank
- 15108
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | marked | masked |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Having a visible or identifying mark. | simple past and past participle of mask |
Where the eye mixes marked and masked
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: marked vs masked
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: marked is /mɑːkt/ while masked is /mɑːskt/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - r in “marked” becomes s in “masked”, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 15108, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
marked is recorded at frequency rank #3,007, classified as anadj, pronounced /mɑːkt/. 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 15108, this pair ranks #466,011 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of marked vs masked
Shared letters: adekm. Private to "marked": r. Private to "masked": s.
"marked" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "masked" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "marked" for "masked" ever safe?
Which is more common, "marked" or "masked"?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "marked" 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 #466,011 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "marked" and "masked" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "masked vs Masood". 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 #466,011 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.