# mara vs moa

> English confusable word pair

## The two words

### mara
*noun · IPA /ˈmɑːɹə/ · frequency rank #16,072*
A nightmare; a spectre or wraith-like creature in Germanic and particularly Scandinavian folklore; a female demon who torments people in sleep by crouching on their chests or stomachs, or by causing terrifying visions.

### moa
*noun · IPA /ˈmɒʌ/ · frequency rank #29,747*
Any of several species of large, extinct, flightless birds of the family Dinornithidae that were native to New Zealand; until its extinction, one species was the largest bird in the world.

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/vs/mara-vs-moa