mabvsMariTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#47,175
“mab” frequency rank
#21,578
“Mari” frequency rank
68753
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mab Mari
Definition A slattern. An ancient Sumerian and Amorite city, the modern-day Tell Hariri in Syria.

Letter map: mab vs Mari

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

3 ch
mab
4 ch
Mari

Role in the sentence - mab and Mari

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: mab is anoun and Marianame. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 68753, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mab is recorded at frequency rank #47,175, classified as anoun. Mari is at rank #21,578, tagged as aname.

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 68753, this pair ranks #57,467 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of mab vs Mari

Shared letters: am. Private to "mab": b. Private to "Mari": ir.

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

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Marimarri · mmari · mrai

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "mab" for "Mari" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "mab" is a noun and "Mari" a name, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "mab" vs "Mari" - which ranks higher?
"Mari" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #21,578 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 "Mari" 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 "Mari" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #57,467 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mab" and "Mari" 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 #57,467 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