moanedvsmobbedConfusable pair

Quick tell: moaned is a verb, mobbed is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#37,102
“moaned” frequency rank
#42,778
“mobbed” frequency rank
79880
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature moaned mobbed
Definition simple past and past participle of moan Crowded.

Letter map: moaned vs mobbed

Shared letters muted; letters that set moaned and mobbed apart highlighted. Shared run: 4.

6 ch
moaned
6 ch
mobbed

Grammar separator: moaned vs mobbed

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: moaned is averb and mobbedanadjective. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 79880, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

moaned is recorded at frequency rank #37,102, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈməʊnd/. mobbed is at rank #42,778, 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 79880, this pair ranks #21,076 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of moaned vs mobbed

Shared letters: demo. Private to "moaned": an. Private to "mobbed": b.

"moaned" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC  ·  "mobbed" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • moanedmaoned · mmoaned · moaend · moande · moanedd · moanned · monaed · omaned
  • mobbedmbobed · mmobbed · mobbde · mobbedd · mobebd · mobed · ombbed

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "moaned" for "mobbed" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "moaned" is a verb and "mobbed" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary English text, does "moaned" or "mobbed" show up more?
"moaned" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #37,102 in our English list, against #42,778 for "mobbed". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "moaned" and "mobbed".

  • Full dictionary entry for "moaned" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "mobbed" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #21,076 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "moaned" and "mobbed" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mobbed vs mowed". 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 #21,076 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list