machavsmechasWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“macha” and “mechas” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#45,428
“macha” frequency rank
#32,754
“mechas” frequency rank
78182
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature macha mechas
Definition (Mesodesma donacium) Molusco bivalvo comestible, semejante a una almeja de concha triangular. Habita la costa peruana y chilena en playas arenosas expuestas al oleaje del océano. Forma del plural de mecha.

Where the eye mixes macha and mechas

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. macha runs 5 letters (CVCCV) against mechas's 6 (CVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
macha
6 ch
mechas

Visual trap between macha and mechas

A purely visual mix-up. macha ([ˈmat͡ʃa]) and mechas ([ˈmet͡ʃas]) 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 78182, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

macha is recorded at frequency rank #45,428, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈmat͡ʃa]. mechas is at rank #32,754, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈmet͡ʃas].

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 78182, this pair ranks #14,838 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of macha vs mechas

Shared letters: achm. Private to "macha": -. Private to "mechas": es.

"macha" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "mechas" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • machaamcha · macah · maccha · machha · mahca · mcaha · mmacha
  • mechasemchas · mcehas · mecahs · mecchas · mechass · mechhas · mechsa · mehcas

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "macha" for "mechas" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈmat͡ʃa] versus [ˈmet͡ʃas]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "macha" vs "mechas" - which ranks higher?
"mechas" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #32,754 in our Spanish list, against #45,428 for "macha". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "macha" and "mechas" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "macha" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "mechas" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #14,838 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "macha" and "mechas" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "macha vs machaca". 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 #14,838 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list