Which to use
“murdered” and “muttered” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #4,174
- “murdered” frequency rank
- #35,839
- “muttered” frequency rank
- 40013
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | murdered | muttered |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of murder | simple past and past participle of mutter |
Where the eye mixes murdered and muttered
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses murdered with muttered
A purely visual mix-up. murdered (/ˈmɝ.dɚd/) and muttered (/ˈmʌtɚd/) 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 40013, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
murdered is recorded at frequency rank #4,174, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈmɝ.dɚd/. muttered is at rank #35,839, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈmʌtɚd/.
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 40013, this pair ranks #271,452 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of murdered vs muttered
Shared letters: demru. Private to "murdered": -. Private to "muttered": t.
"murdered" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC · "muttered" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "murdered" and "muttered" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "murdered" vs "muttered" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "murdered" and "muttered" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "murdered" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "muttered" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #271,452 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "murdered" and "muttered" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mutter vs muttered". 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 #271,452 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.