Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo [The Democratic Republic of the], Equatorial Guinea (B), Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Sâo Tomé e Principe, Senegal, Somalia, Sudan, Tanzania [United Republic of], Togo, Uganda.
South-western Mauritania, Senegal, Gambia, southern Mali, Burkina Faso and northern Ghana east to southern Chad, northern Central African Republic, southern and eastern Sudan, north-eastern DRCongo, southern Ethiopia, north-western and southern Somalia, north-western Uganda and north-central Kenya south to central Tanzania.
 
Population
Estimated population is unknown (2010).
Has been thought to form a superspecies, or even to be conspecific, with Southern Masked-Weaver (Ploceus velatus), Tanzania Masked-Weaver (Ploceus reichardi), Ruwet's Masked-Weaver (Ploceus ruweti) and Katanga Masked-Weaver (Ploceus katangae). Eastern African populations sometimes separated as subspecies uluensis (described from Ulu Mts, in Kenya), but considerable individual variation evident in the characters proposed.