masksvsmazesWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#8,575
“masks” frequency rank
#42,261
“mazes” frequency rank
50836
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature masks mazes
Definition plural of mask plural of maze

Where the eye mixes masks and mazes

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
masks
5 ch
mazes

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. masks (/mɑːsks/) and mazes (/ˈmeɪzɪz/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50836, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

masks is recorded at frequency rank #8,575, classified as anoun, pronounced /mɑːsks/. mazes is at rank #42,261, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈmeɪzɪz/.

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 50836, this pair ranks #170,729 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of masks vs mazes

Shared letters: ams. Private to "masks": k. Private to "mazes": ez.

"masks" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC  ·  "mazes" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • masksamsks · makss · maskks · maskss · massks · mmasks · msaks
  • mazesamzes · maezs · mazess · mazse · mazzes · mmazes · mzaes

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "masks" and "mazes" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/mɑːsks/ versus /ˈmeɪzɪz/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "masks" or "mazes"?
"masks" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,575 in our English list, against #42,261 for "mazes". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list