mansvsmarWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#11,566
“mans” frequency rank
#5,233
“mar” frequency rank
16799
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mans mar
Definition third-person singular simple present indicative of man To spoil; to ruin; to scathe; to damage.

Where the eye mixes mans and mar

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
mans
3 ch
mar

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. mans (/mænz/) and mar (/mɑː(ɹ)/) 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 16799, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mans is recorded at frequency rank #11,566, classified as averb, pronounced /mænz/. mar is at rank #5,233, tagged as averb, pronounced /mɑː(ɹ)/.

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 16799, this pair ranks #455,510 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of mans vs mar

Shared letters: am. Private to "mans": ns. Private to "mar": r.

"mans" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "mar" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • mansamns · manns · manss · masn · mmans · mnas

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "mans" and "mar" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/mænz/ versus /mɑː(ɹ)/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "mans" or "mar"?
"mar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,233 in our English list, against #11,566 for "mans". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list