Which to use
“marten” and “mates” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #43,775
- “marten” frequency rank
- #7,248
- “mates” frequency rank
- 51023
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | marten | mates |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Any carnivorous mammal of the genus Martes. | plural of mate |
Where the eye mixes marten and mates
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. marten runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against mates's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses marten with mates
A purely visual mix-up. marten (/ˈmɑː.tɪn/) and mates (/meɪts/) 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 51023, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
marten is recorded at frequency rank #43,775, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈmɑː.tɪn/. mates is at rank #7,248, tagged as anoun, pronounced /meɪts/.
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 51023, this pair ranks #169,060 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of marten vs mates
Shared letters: aemt. Private to "marten": nr. Private to "mates": s.
"marten" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "mates" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "marten" and "mates" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "marten" or "mates" show up more?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "marten" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "mates" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #169,060 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "marten" and "mates" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Marne vs marten". 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 #169,060 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.