mabvsmastConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#47,175
“mab” frequency rank
#14,584
“mast” frequency rank
61759
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mab mast
Definition A slattern. A tall, slim post or tower, usually tapering upward, used to support, for example, sails or observation platforms on a ship, the main rotor of a helicopter, flags, floodlights, meteorological instruments, or communications equipment, such as an aerial, usually supported by guy-wires (except in the case of a helicopter).

Letter map: mab vs mast

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

3 ch
mab
4 ch
mast

Corpus notes: mab and mast

mab and mast 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 61759, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mab is recorded at frequency rank #47,175, classified as anoun. mast is at rank #14,584, tagged as anoun, pronounced /mɑːst/.

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 61759, this pair ranks #92,386 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of mab vs mast

Shared letters: am. Private to "mab": b. Private to "mast": st.

"mab" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "mast" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • mast ← amst · masst · mastt · mmast · msat

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "mab" and "mast" be used interchangeably?
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.
Which is more common, "mab" or "mast"?
"mast" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,584 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

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "mab" and "mast".

  • Full dictionary entry for "mab" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "mast" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #92,386 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mab" and "mast" 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 #92,386 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