Which to use
“mate” is a noun and “muted” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #2,743
- “mate” frequency rank
- #16,759
- “muted” frequency rank
- 19502
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | mate | muted |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A fellow, comrade, colleague, partner or someone with whom something is shared, e.g. shipmate, classmate. | Not expressed strongly or openly; subdued and understated |
Letter map: mate vs muted
Shared letters muted; letters that set mate and muted apart highlighted. Shared run: 3.
Grammar separator: mate vs muted
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: mate is anoun and mutedanadjective. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 19502, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
mate is recorded at frequency rank #2,743, classified as anoun, pronounced /meɪt/. muted is at rank #16,759, 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 19502, this pair ranks #437,712 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of mate vs muted
Shared letters: emt. Private to "mate": a. Private to "muted": du.
"mate" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "muted" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "mate" and "muted" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary English text, does "mate" or "muted" show up more?
What to do next
You've compared "mate" and "muted". Here's where to go from here.
- Full dictionary entry for "mate" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "muted" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #437,712 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "mate" and "muted" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mudd vs muted". 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 #437,712 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.