Which to use
“mixed” and “mowed” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #2,305
- “mixed” frequency rank
- #38,509
- “mowed” frequency rank
- 40814
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | mixed | mowed |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of mix | simple past and past participle of mow |
Where the eye mixes mixed and mowed
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. mixed and mowed follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between mixed and mowed
A purely visual mix-up. mixed (/mɪkst/) and mowed (/məʊd/) 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 40814, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
mixed is recorded at frequency rank #2,305, classified as averb, pronounced /mɪkst/. mowed is at rank #38,509, tagged as averb, pronounced /məʊd/.
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 40814, this pair ranks #264,159 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of mixed vs mowed
Shared letters: dem. Private to "mixed": ix. Private to "mowed": ow.
"mixed" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "mowed" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "mixed" and "mowed" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "mixed" vs "mowed" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "mixed" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "mowed" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #264,159 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "mixed" and "mowed" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mowed vs Mowers". 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 #264,159 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.