Which to use
“muted” is an adjective and “mutter” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #16,759
- “muted” frequency rank
- #38,512
- “mutter” frequency rank
- 55271
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | muted | mutter |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Not expressed strongly or openly; subdued and understated | A repressed or obscure utterance; an instance of muttering. |
Letter map: muted vs mutter
Shared letters muted; letters that set muted and mutter apart highlighted. Shared run: 4.
Grammar separator: muted vs mutter
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: muted is anadjective and mutteranoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 55271, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
muted is recorded at frequency rank #16,759, classified as anadj. mutter is at rank #38,512, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈmʌtə/.
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 55271, this pair ranks #134,876 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of muted vs mutter
Shared letters: emtu. Private to "muted": d. Private to "mutter": r.
"muted" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "mutter" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "muted" for "mutter" ever safe?
Frequency check: "muted" vs "mutter" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pair "muted" vs "mutter" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.
- Full dictionary entry for "muted" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "mutter" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #134,876 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "muted" and "mutter" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mutate vs mutter". 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 #134,876 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.