mafiavsmazaWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#6,325
“mafia” frequency rank
#19,489
“maza” frequency rank
25814
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mafia maza
Definition Organización criminal de origen siciliano, con estructura organizacional y códigos de honor estrictos. Arma antigua, hecha de palo guarnecido de hierro, o toda de hierro, con la cabeza gruesa.

Where the eye mixes mafia and maza

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

5 ch
mafia
4 ch
maza

Visual trap between mafia and maza

A purely visual mix-up. mafia ([ˈmafja]) and maza ([ˈmasa]) 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 25814, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mafia is recorded at frequency rank #6,325, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈmafja]. maza is at rank #19,489, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈmasa].

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 25814, this pair ranks #234,681 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of mafia vs maza

Shared letters: am. Private to "mafia": fi. Private to "maza": z.

"mafia" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV  ·  "maza" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • mafiaamfia · mafai · maffia · maifa · mfaia · mmafia
  • mazaamza · maaz · mazza · mmaza · mzaa

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "mafia" and "maza" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈmafja] versus [ˈmasa]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "mafia" vs "maza" - which ranks higher?
"mafia" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,325 in our Spanish list, against #19,489 for "maza". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "mafia" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "maza" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #234,681 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mafia" and "maza" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "maza vs melaza". 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 #234,681 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