Which to use
“madera” is a noun and “madura” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #1,780
- “madera” frequency rank
- #9,492
- “madura” frequency rank
- 11272
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | madera | madura |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Tejido duro, formado por fibras de celulosa incrustadas en una red de lignina, que forma la parte principal del tronco y ramaje de los árboles debajo de la corteza. | Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de madurar. |
Where the eye mixes madera and madura
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses madera with madura
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: madera is [maˈð̞eɾa] while madura is [maˈð̞uɾa]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - e in “madera” becomes u in “madura”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 11272, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
madera is recorded at frequency rank #1,780, classified as anoun, pronounced [maˈð̞eɾa]. madura is at rank #9,492, tagged as averb, pronounced [maˈð̞uɾa].
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 11272, this pair ranks #295,704 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of madera vs madura
Shared letters: admr. Private to "madera": e. Private to "madura": u.
"madera" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV · "madura" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "madera" and "madura" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary Spanish text, does "madera" or "madura" show up more?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "madera" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "madura" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #295,704 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "madera" and "madura" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "madura vs modera". 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 #295,704 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.