marysvsMearsConfusable pair

Quick tell: marys is a noun, Mears is a name, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“marys” is a noun and “Mears” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#33,321
“marys” frequency rank
#41,760
“Mears” frequency rank
75081
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature marys Mears
Definition plural of mary A surname from Old English.

Letter map: marys vs Mears

Shared letters muted; letters that set marys and Mears apart highlighted. Shared run: 4. marys (CVCVC) and Mears (CVVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

5 ch
marys
5 ch
Mears

Role in the sentence - marys and Mears

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: marys is anoun and Mearsaname. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 75081, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

marys is recorded at frequency rank #33,321, classified as anoun. Mears is at rank #41,760, tagged as aname.

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 75081, this pair ranks #34,272 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of marys vs Mears

Shared letters: amrs. Private to "marys": y. Private to "Mears": e.

"marys" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "Mears" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • marys ← amrys · marrys · marsy · maryss · maryys · mayrs · mmarys · mrays
  • Mears ← emars · mearrs · mearss · measr · meras · mmears

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "marys" for "Mears" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "marys" is a noun and "Mears" a name, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "marys" vs "Mears" - which ranks higher?
"marys" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #33,321 in our English list, against #41,760 for "Mears". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

You've compared "marys" and "Mears". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "marys" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Mears" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #34,272 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "marys" and "Mears" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "marl vs Mears". 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 #34,272 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list