mabvsmarWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: mab is a noun, mar is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“mab” is a noun and “mar” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#47,175
“mab” frequency rank
#5,233
“mar” frequency rank
52408
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mab mar
Definition A slattern. To spoil; to ruin; to scathe; to damage.

Letter map: mab vs mar

Shared letters muted; letters that set mab and mar apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.

3 ch
mab
3 ch
mar

Part-of-speech tell for mab / mar

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: mab is anoun and maraverb. On the page they differ by a single letter - b in “mab” becomes r in “mar”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 52408, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mab is recorded at frequency rank #47,175, classified as anoun. mar is at rank #5,233, tagged as averb, pronounced /mɑː(ɹ)/.

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 52408, this pair ranks #157,293 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of mab vs mar

Shared letters: am. Private to "mab": b. Private to "mar": r.

"mab" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "mar" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "mab" and "mar" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "mab" is a noun and "mar" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "mab" vs "mar" - which ranks higher?
"mar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,233 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.

What to do next

Pair "mab" vs "mar" 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 "mar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #157,293 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mab" and "mar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mab vs MPAA". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #157,293 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