markedvsmattedTell them apart

Which to use

“marked” and “matted” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#3,007
“marked” frequency rank
#39,418
“matted” frequency rank
42425
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature marked matted
Definition Having a visible or identifying mark. Forming a thick tangled mess.

Letter map: marked vs matted

Shared letters muted; letters that set marked and matted apart highlighted. Shared run: 4.

6 ch
marked
6 ch
matted

Pair insight - marked / matted

marked and matted are indexed as a confusable English pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42425, 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/. matted is at rank #39,418, tagged as anadj.

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 42425, this pair ranks #249,323 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of marked vs matted

Shared letters: adem. Private to "marked": kr. Private to "matted": t.

"marked" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "matted" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • markedamrked · makred · marekd · markde · markedd · markked · marrked · mmarked
  • mattedamtted · matetd · mattde · mattedd · mmatted · mtated

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "marked" for "matted" ever safe?
No. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Frequency check: "marked" vs "matted" - which ranks higher?
"marked" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,007 in our English list, against #39,418 for "matted". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Pair "marked" vs "matted" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "marked" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "matted" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #249,323 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "marked" and "matted" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "martel vs matted". 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 #249,323 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list