Which to use
“mash” is a noun and “mashed” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #13,954
- “mash” frequency rank
- #17,410
- “mashed” frequency rank
- 31364
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | mash | mashed |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A mass of mixed ingredients reduced to a soft pulpy state by beating or pressure; a mass of anything in a soft pulpy state. | simple past and past participle of mash |
Where the eye mixes mash and mashed
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between mash and mashed
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: mash is /mæʃ/ while mashed is /mæʃt/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “mash” sits inside “mashed”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 31364, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
mash is recorded at frequency rank #13,954, classified as anoun, pronounced /mæʃ/. mashed is at rank #17,410, tagged as averb, pronounced /mæʃt/.
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 31364, this pair ranks #346,781 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of mash vs mashed
Shared letters: ahms. Private to "mash": -. Private to "mashed": de.
"mash" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "mashed" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "mash" and "mashed" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary English text, does "mash" or "mashed" show up more?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "mash" and "mashed" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "mash" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "mashed" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #346,781 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "mash" and "mashed" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mashed 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 #346,781 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.