madvsmásWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: mad is a adjective, más is an adverb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“mad” is an adjective and “más” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#14,642
“mad” frequency rank
#24
“más” frequency rank
14666
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mad más
Definition Grafía alternativa de mat. En comparación implícita o explícita, indica "mayor cantidad de, exceso, aumento, superioridad, preferencia". Comparativo irregular de mucho

Where the eye mixes mad and más

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

3 ch
mad
3 ch
más

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: mad is /ˈmɑːt/ while más is [ˈmas]. 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 (adjective vs adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14666, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mad is recorded at frequency rank #14,642, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈmɑːt/. más is at rank #24, tagged as anadv, pronounced [ˈmas].

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 14666, this pair ranks #283,250 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of mad vs más

Shared letters: m. Private to "mad": ad. Private to "más": .

"mad" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "más" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "mad" and "más" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "mad" is an adjective and "más" an adverb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "mad" or "más"?
"más" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #24 in our Spanish list, against #14,642 for "mad". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list