Which to use
“marry” is a verb and “marsh” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #3,637
- “marry” frequency rank
- #8,687
- “marsh” frequency rank
- 12324
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | marry | marsh |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To enter into the conjugal or connubial state; to take a husband or a wife. | An area of low, wet land, often with tall grass or herbaceous plants. |
Where the eye mixes marry and marsh
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses marry with marsh
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: marry is /ˈmæɹ.ɪ/ while marsh is /mɑɹʃ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12324, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
marry is recorded at frequency rank #3,637, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈmæɹ.ɪ/. marsh is at rank #8,687, tagged as anoun, pronounced /mɑɹʃ/.
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 12324, this pair ranks #482,202 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of marry vs marsh
Shared letters: amr. Private to "marry": y. Private to "marsh": hs.
"marry" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "marsh" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "marry" and "marsh" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "marry" or "marsh"?
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 "marry" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "marsh" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #482,202 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "marry" and "marsh" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "marsh vs myrrh". 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 #482,202 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.