madrevsmarkWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#287
“madre” frequency rank
#3,938
“mark” frequency rank
4225
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature madre mark
Definition Progenitora de sexo femenino. Marca.

Where the eye mixes madre and mark

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
madre
4 ch
mark

Visual trap between madre and mark

A purely visual mix-up. madre ([ˈmað̞ɾe]) and mark (/mɑːk/) 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 4225, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

madre is recorded at frequency rank #287, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈmað̞ɾe]. mark is at rank #3,938, tagged as anoun, pronounced /mɑːk/.

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 4225, this pair ranks #316,584 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of madre vs mark

Shared letters: amr. Private to "madre": de. Private to "mark": k.

"madre" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "mark" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • madreamdre · maddre · mader · madrre · marde · mdare · mmadre
  • markamrk · makr · markk · marrk · mmark · mrak

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "madre" and "mark" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈmað̞ɾe] versus /mɑːk/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "madre" vs "mark" - which ranks higher?
"madre" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #287 in our Spanish list, against #3,938 for "mark". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "madre" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "mark" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #316,584 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "madre" and "mark" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mark vs mur". 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 #316,584 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