mask
/mɑːsk/noun, verb
mask is spelled M-A-S-K: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 20 times per million words in written English, the 4,224th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “mask vs masque” about 90 times a month (Google, United States). As a noun, mask means “A cover, or partial cover, for the face, used for disguise or protection” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of mask is masks.
How many letters and syllables are in mask?
| Letters | 4: M-A-S-K |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 20 times per million words; the 4,224th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Pairs people search | |
| Sounds like | |
| Rhymes with |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is mask?
Mask appears 20 times per million words in written English, the 4,224th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce mask?
- UK /mɑːsk/
- /mask/
- British /mɑːsk/
Mask has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-mask.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with mask
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Sounds like: masque (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).
Also written: masque.
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with mask?
2 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as mask from its last stressed vowel (/ɑsk/, British pronunciation):
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of mask
- masks plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- masking participle, present
- masked participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does mask mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A cover, or partial cover, for the face, used for disguise or protection.
a dancer's mask; a fencer's mask; a ball player's mask
- 2
That which disguises; a pretext or subterfuge.
- 3
Appearance, likeness.
- 4
A festive entertainment of dancing or other diversions, where all wear masks; a masquerade.
- 5
A person wearing a mask.
- 6
obsoleteA dramatic performance in which the actors wore masks and represented mythical or allegorical characters.
- 7
A grotesque head or face, used to adorn keystones and other prominent parts, to spout water in fountains, and the like.
- 8
In a permanent fortification, a redoubt which protects the caponiere.
- 9
Mesh.
- 10
ScotlandUKThe mesh of a net; a net; net-bag.
- 11
UKMash.
verb
- 1
To cover (the face or something else), in order to conceal the identity or protect against injury; to cover with a mask or visor.
- 2
To disguise as something else.
- 3
To conceal from view or knowledge; to cover; to hide.
- 4
To conceal; also, to intervene in the line of.
- 5
To cover or keep in check.
to mask a body of troops or a fortess by a superior force, while some hostile evolution is being carried out
- 6
To take part as a masker in a masquerade.
- 7
To put on a mask; to wear a mask.
- 8
obsoleteTo disguise oneself, to be disguised in any way.
- 9
UKTo mash.
- 10
UK(brewing) To mix malt with hot water to yield wort.
- 11
ScotlandTo be infused or steeped.
- 12
ScotlandUKTo prepare tea in a teapot; alternative to brew.
- 13
ScotlandrareTo prepare (to storm).
- 14
UKTo bewilder; confuse.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Mask in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | masque |
| German | Maske , maskieren , sich maskieren |
| Portuguese | máscara , mascarada |
| Spanish | máscara, mascarilla, antifaz, cambuj, gambux (gambush), gambox (gambosh) |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does mask come from?
Borrowed from Middle French masque (“a covering to hide or protect the face”), from Italian maschera (“mask, disguise”), from (a byform of, see it for more) Medieval Latin masca, mascha, a borrowing of Proto-West Germanic *maskā, from which English mesh and mask (“mesh”) (below at Etymology 2) are inherited. Doublet of mascara, masque, and mesh. Replaced Old English grīma (“mask”), whence grime, and displaced non-native Middle English viser (“visor, mask”) borrowed from Old French viser, visier.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).