masquerade
/ˌmæskəˈɹeɪd/
Detailed reference entry for the English word "masquerade", 10-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Wiktionary, and usage frequency ranked against an open word-frequency list covering the top 100,000 English words. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "masquerade" includes synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and cross-language translation pointers sourced from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org extract. Whether you are verifying the correct spelling of "masquerade" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.
The verdict
“masquerade” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #27,209 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #27,209
- frequency rank, English
- 10
- letters
- 14
- tracked misspellings
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) — An assembly or party of people wearing (usually elaborate or fanciful) masks and costumes, and amusing themselves with dancing, conversation, or other diversions.
Compare similar words
See how masquerade compares against similar English words.
Browse all word comparisons →| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | masquerade |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˌmæskəˈɹeɪd/ |
| Letters | 10 |
| Frequency rank | #27,209 |
| Misspellings tracked | 14 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “masquerade” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for masquerade is 10 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˌmæskəˈɹeɪd/. Corpus data places it at rank #27,209 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 7 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 14 likely wrong-spelling variants for masquerade, with forms such as "amsquerade", "maqsuerade", and "masqeurade". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
Etymologically, the entry records: The noun is borrowed from Middle French mascarade, masquarade, masquerade (modern French mascarade (“masquerade, masque; farce”)), and its etymon Italian mascherata (“masquerade”), from maschera (“mask”) + -ata. Maschera is derived from Medieval Latin masca… Root origin matters for spelling because borrowed morphemes (Greek, Latin, Old French, Old English) carry their source-language orthographic conventions into modern English, which is why historical etymology is often the cleanest predictor of whether a cluster like "-ough", "-eau", or "-tion" will appear. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct English form is masquerade, spelled M-A-S-Q-U-E-R-A-D-E, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.
Definition
- 1An assembly or party of people wearing (usually elaborate or fanciful) masks and costumes, and amusing themselves with dancing, conversation, or other diversions.
- 2The act of wearing a mask or dressing up in a costume for, or as if for, a masquerade ball.
- 3An act of living under false pretenses; a concealment of something by a false or unreal show; a disguise, a pretence; also, a pretentious display.
- 4An assembly of varied, often fanciful, things.
- 5A cosplay event at which costumed attendees perform skits.
- 6A dramatic performance by actors in masks; a mask or masque.
- 7A Spanish entertainment or military exercise in which squadrons of horses charge at each other, the riders fighting with bucklers and canes.
Etymology
The noun is borrowed from Middle French mascarade, masquarade, masquerade (modern French mascarade (“masquerade, masque; farce”)), and its etymon Italian mascherata (“masquerade”), from maschera (“mask”) + -ata. Maschera is derived from Medieval Latin masca (“mask”): see further there. The English word is cognate with Late Latin masquarata, Portuguese mascarada, Spanish mascarada. The verb is derived from the noun.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: amsquerade,maqsuerade,masqeurade,masqquerade,masquearde,masqueradde,masqueraed,masquerdae,masquerrade,masqureade,massquerade,masuqerade,mmasquerade,msaquerade
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of masquerade - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
Edit distance from "masquerade"
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Cite this page
Free to reuse with attribution (CC BY-SA). Copy the citation:
PlainSpell, “masquerade, English word data” (May 6, 2026). Derived from Wiktionary (kaikki.org, CC BY-SA) and an open word-frequency list. https://plainspell.com/en/word/masquerade
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “masquerade”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is M-A-S-Q-U-E-R-A-D-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˌmæskəˈɹeɪd/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Nearby English words
Other entries that begin with the letter M in our English index: