Which to use
“mares” and “masses” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #29,365
- “mares” frequency rank
- #7,814
- “masses” frequency rank
- 37179
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | mares | masses |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | plural of mare | plural of mass |
Where the eye mixes mares and masses
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. mares runs 5 letters (CVCVC) against masses's 6 (CVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between mares and masses
A purely visual mix-up. mares (/mɛɹz/) and masses (/ˈmæs.ɪz/) 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 37179, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
mares is recorded at frequency rank #29,365, classified as anoun, pronounced /mɛɹz/. masses is at rank #7,814, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈmæs.ɪz/.
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 37179, this pair ranks #296,740 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of mares vs masses
Shared letters: aems. Private to "mares": r. Private to "masses": -.
"mares" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "masses" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "mares" and "masses" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "mares" or "masses"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "mares" and "masses" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "mares" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "masses" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #296,740 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "mares" and "masses" 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 #296,740 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.