miffedvsmixedWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: miffed is a adjective, mixed is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“miffed” is an adjective and “mixed” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#48,355
“miffed” frequency rank
#2,305
“mixed” frequency rank
50660
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature miffed mixed
Definition Somewhat indignant, irritated, angry, in a snit, put out or annoyed. simple past and past participle of mix

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set miffed and mixed apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
miffed
5 ch
mixed

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: miffed is /mɪft/ while mixed is /mɪkst/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50660, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

miffed is recorded at frequency rank #48,355, classified as anadj, pronounced /mɪft/. mixed is at rank #2,305, tagged as averb, pronounced /mɪkst/.

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 50660, this pair ranks #172,255 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of miffed vs mixed

Shared letters: deim. Private to "miffed": f. Private to "mixed": x.

"miffed" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "mixed" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • miffedimffed · mfifed · mifed · mifefd · miffde · miffedd · mmiffed
  • mixedimxed · miexd · mixde · mixedd · mixxed · mmixed · mxied

Frequency comparison

miffed#48,355
mixed#2,305

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "miffed" and "mixed" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "miffed" is an adjective and "mixed" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "miffed" or "mixed"?
"mixed" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,305 in our English list, against #48,355 for "miffed". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering miffed vs mixed

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “miffed”; for a verb, it's “mixed”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “miffed” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list