Which to use
“mail” and “marfil” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #4,803
- “mail” frequency rank
- #11,085
- “marfil” frequency rank
- 15888
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | marfil | |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Correo electrónico, medio de comunicación que permite el envío y la recepción de mensajes escritos, que pueden acompañarse de otros tipos de archivos, a través de internet. | Material blanco y duro que forma los colmillos o caninos de animales como los elefantes, morsas, hipopótamos, etc. |
Where the eye mixes mail and marfil
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses mail with marfil
A purely visual mix-up. mail ([ˈmejl]) and marfil ([maɾˈfil]) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 15888, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
mail is recorded at frequency rank #4,803, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈmejl]. marfil is at rank #11,085, tagged as anoun, pronounced [maɾˈfil].
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 15888, this pair ranks #278,381 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of mail vs marfil
Shared letters: ailm. Private to "mail": -. Private to "marfil": fr.
"mail" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "marfil" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "mail" and "marfil" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "mail" or "marfil"?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "mail" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "marfil" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #278,381 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "mail" and "marfil" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "marfil vs Martel". 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 #278,381 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.