Which to use
“marches” and “mares” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #16,746
- “marches” frequency rank
- #29,365
- “mares” frequency rank
- 46111
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | marches | mares |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | plural of march | plural of mare |
Where the eye mixes marches and mares
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. marches runs 7 letters (CVCCCVC) against mares's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between marches and mares
A purely visual mix-up. marches (/ˈmɑɹt͡ʃɪz/) and mares (/mɛɹz/) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46111, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
marches is recorded at frequency rank #16,746, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈmɑɹt͡ʃɪz/. mares is at rank #29,365, tagged as anoun, pronounced /mɛɹz/.
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 46111, this pair ranks #214,850 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of marches vs mares
Shared letters: aemrs. Private to "marches": ch. Private to "mares": -.
"marches" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVC · "mares" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "marches" for "mares" ever safe?
Which is more common, "marches" or "mares"?
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 "marches" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "mares" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #214,850 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "marches" and "mares" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mares 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 #214,850 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.