Which to use
“moody” and “muddy” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #11,253
- “moody” frequency rank
- #13,022
- “muddy” frequency rank
- 24275
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | moody | muddy |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Given to sudden or frequent changes of mind; temperamental. | Covered or splashed with, or full of, mud (“wet soil”). |
Where the eye mixes moody and muddy
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: moody vs muddy
A purely visual mix-up. moody (/ˈmuːdi/) and muddy (/ˈmʌdi/) 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 24275, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
moody is recorded at frequency rank #11,253, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈmuːdi/. muddy is at rank #13,022, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈmʌdi/.
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 24275, this pair ranks #403,171 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of moody vs muddy
Shared letters: dmy. Private to "moody": o. Private to "muddy": u.
"moody" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV · "muddy" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "moody" and "muddy" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "moody" or "muddy"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "moody" and "muddy" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "moody" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "muddy" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #403,171 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "moody" and "muddy" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "muda vs muddy". 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 #403,171 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.