maovsMrConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#13,014
“mao” frequency rank
#192
“Mr” frequency rank
13206
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mao Mr
Definition The ma'oma'o, Gymnomyza samoensis, a large passerine bird native to Samoa. Abbreviation of Mister.

Letter map: mao vs Mr

Shared letters muted; letters that set mao and Mr apart highlighted. Shared run: 1.

3 ch
mao
2 ch
Mr

Pair insight - mao / Mr

mao and Mr 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 13206, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mao is recorded at frequency rank #13,014, classified as anoun. Mr is at rank #192, tagged as anoun.

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 13206, this pair ranks #477,167 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of mao vs Mr

Shared letters: m. Private to "mao": ao. Private to "Mr": r.

"mao" · 3 letters · shape CVV  ·  "Mr" · 2 letters · shape CC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "mao" for "Mr" ever safe?
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.
In ordinary English text, does "mao" or "Mr" show up more?
"Mr" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #192 in our English list, against #13,014 for "mao". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

You've compared "mao" and "Mr". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "mao" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Mr" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #477,167 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mao" and "Mr" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mao vs MPAA". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #477,167 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