mannavsmanusWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#37,082
“manna” frequency rank
#33,726
“manus” frequency rank
70808
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature manna manus
Definition Food miraculously produced for the Israelites in the desert in the book of Exodus. A hand, as the part of the fore limb below the forearm in a human, or the corresponding part in other vertebrates.

Where the eye mixes manna and manus

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

5 ch
manna
5 ch
manus

Look-alike desk: manna vs manus

A purely visual mix-up. manna (/ˈmænə/) and manus (/ˈmeɪnəs/) 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 70808, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

manna is recorded at frequency rank #37,082, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈmænə/. manus is at rank #33,726, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈmeɪnəs/.

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 70808, this pair ranks #49,107 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of manna vs manus

Shared letters: amn. Private to "manna": -. Private to "manus": su.

"manna" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "manus" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • mannaamnna · manan · mmanna · mnana
  • manusamnus · mannus · mansu · manuss · mauns · mmanus · mnaus

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "manna" and "manus" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/ˈmænə/ versus /ˈmeɪnəs/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "manna" or "manus"?
"manus" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #33,726 in our English list, against #37,082 for "manna". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "manna" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "manus" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #49,107 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "manna" and "manus" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "manna vs Marne". 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 #49,107 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