Which to use
“mails” and “mars” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #12,635
- “mails” frequency rank
- #4,538
- “mars” frequency rank
- 17173
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | mails | mars |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | third-person singular simple present indicative of mail | third-person singular simple present indicative of mar |
Where the eye mixes mails and mars
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses mails with mars
A purely visual mix-up. mails (/meɪlz/) and mars (/ˈmɑɹz/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 17173, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
mails is recorded at frequency rank #12,635, classified as averb, pronounced /meɪlz/. mars is at rank #4,538, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈmɑɹz/.
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 17173, this pair ranks #453,140 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of mails vs mars
Shared letters: ams. Private to "mails": il. Private to "mars": r.
"mails" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC · "mars" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "mails" for "mars" ever safe?
Frequency check: "mails" vs "mars" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "mails" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "mars" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #453,140 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "mails" and "mars" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mails vs marl". 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 #453,140 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.