makovsmarkWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#30,126
“mako” frequency rank
#949
“mark” frequency rank
31075
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mako mark
Definition Ellipsis of mako shark Boundary, land within a boundary.

Where the eye mixes mako and mark

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

4 ch
mako
4 ch
mark

Why the eye confuses mako with mark

A purely visual mix-up. mako (/ˈmɑkoʊ/) and mark (/mɑːk/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 31075, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mako is recorded at frequency rank #30,126, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈmɑkoʊ/. mark is at rank #949, tagged as anoun, pronounced /mɑːk/.

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 31075, this pair ranks #349,201 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of mako vs mark

Shared letters: akm. Private to "mako": o. Private to "mark": r.

"mako" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "mark" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • makoamko · makko · maok · mkao · mmako
  • markamrk · makr · markk · marrk · mmark · mrak

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "mako" and "mark" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/ˈmɑkoʊ/ versus /mɑːk/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "mako" vs "mark" - which ranks higher?
"mark" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #949 in our English list, against #30,126 for "mako". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "mako" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "mark" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #349,201 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mako" and "mark" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mako 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 #349,201 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