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PlainSpell

maze

UK /ˈmeɪz/noun

maze is spelled M-A-Z-E: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 4.5 times per million words in written English, the 12,045th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “maize vs maze” about 40 times a month (Google, United States). As a noun, maze means “A labyrinth; a puzzle consisting of a complicated network of paths or passages, the aim of which is to find one's way through” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of maze is mazes.

How many letters and syllables are in maze?

Letters4: M-A-Z-E
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing4.5 times per million words; the 12,045th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone 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 maze?

Maze appears 4.5 times per million words in written English, the 12,045th 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 maze?

  • UK /ˈmeɪz/

Maze 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-maize.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Words people confuse with maze

Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).

maize vs maze40 G

Sounds like: maize (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).

Also written: mase.

Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).

What rhymes with maze?

2 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as maze from its last stressed vowel (/eɪz/, 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 maze

  • mazes plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • mazing participle, present
  • mazed participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does maze mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

    A labyrinth; a puzzle consisting of a complicated network of paths or passages, the aim of which is to find one's way through.

  2. 2

    Something made up of many confused or conflicting elements; a tangle.

  3. 3

    archaicA confusion of thought; a state of bewilderment.

verb

  1. 1

    archaicTo amaze, astonish, bewilder.

  2. 2

    archaicTo daze or stupefy.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Maze in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchlabyrinthe, dédale (puzzle to get through)
GermanIrrgarten (puzzle to get through)
Portugueselabirinto (puzzle to get through)
Spanishlaberinto (puzzle to get through), desconcertar (Translations)

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 maze come from?

From Middle English mase, from Middle English masen (“to perplex, bewilder”); or perhaps from Old English *mæs (“delusion, bewilderment”); akin to Old English āmasian (“to perplex, confound”), Icelandic masa (“to chatter”). More at amaze.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after maze