Which to use
“mast” and “maw” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #14,584
- “mast” frequency rank
- #30,495
- “maw” frequency rank
- 45079
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | mast | maw |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A tall, slim post or tower, usually tapering upward, used to support, for example, sails or observation platforms on a ship, the main rotor of a helicopter, flags, floodlights, meteorological instruments, or communications equipment, such as an aerial, usually supported by guy-wires (except in the case of a helicopter). | The stomach, especially of an animal. |
Where the eye mixes mast and maw
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: mast vs maw
A purely visual mix-up. mast (/mɑːst/) and maw (/mɔː/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45079, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
mast is recorded at frequency rank #14,584, classified as anoun, pronounced /mɑːst/. maw is at rank #30,495, tagged as anoun, pronounced /mɔː/.
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 45079, this pair ranks #224,616 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of mast vs maw
Shared letters: am. Private to "mast": st. Private to "maw": w.
"mast" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "maw" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- mast ← amst · masst · mastt · mmast · msat
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "mast" and "maw" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "mast" vs "maw" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "mast" and "maw" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "mast" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "maw" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #224,616 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "mast" and "maw" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "maw vs MPAA". 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 #224,616 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.