mabvsmahiConfusable pair

Which to use

“mab” and “mahi” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#47,175
“mab” frequency rank
#39,904
“mahi” frequency rank
87079
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mab mahi
Definition A slattern. the work required to complete a task

Letter map: mab vs mahi

Shared letters muted; letters that set mab and mahi apart highlighted. Shared run: 2. mab runs 3 letters (CVC) against mahi's 4 (CVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

3 ch
mab
4 ch
mahi

Corpus notes: mab and mahi

mab and mahi are indexed as a confusable English pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 87079, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mab is recorded at frequency rank #47,175, classified as anoun. mahi is at rank #39,904, tagged as anoun.

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 87079, this pair ranks #8,097 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of mab vs mahi

Shared letters: am. Private to "mab": b. Private to "mahi": hi.

"mab" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "mahi" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • mahi ← amhi · mahhi · maih · mhai · mmahi

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "mab" for "mahi" ever safe?
No. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Frequency check: "mab" vs "mahi" - which ranks higher?
"mahi" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #39,904 in our English list, against #47,175 for "mab". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pair "mab" vs "mahi" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "mab" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "mahi" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #8,097 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mab" and "mahi" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mab vs MPAA". 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 #8,097 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list