main vs mau, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“main” is a noun and “mau” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#19,788
“main” frequency rank: #36,153
“mau” frequency rank: 55941
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	main	mau
Definition	Mano.	Malo

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set main and mau apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch

main

3 ch

mau

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: main is /mɛ̃/ while mau is [ˈmaw]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 55941, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

main is recorded at frequency rank #19,788, classified as anoun, pronounced /mɛ̃/. mau is at rank #36,153, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈmaw].

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 55941, this pair ranks #76,704 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of main vs mau

Shared letters: am. Private to "main": in. Private to "mau": u.

"main" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "mau" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Known mistypes of this pair

main ← amin · mainn · mani · mian · mmain

Frequency comparison

main#19,788

mau#36,153

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "main" and "mau" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "main" is a noun and "mau" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "main" or "mau"?

"main" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #19,788 in our Spanish list, against #36,153 for "mau". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering main vs mau

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “main”; for an adjective, it's “mau”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “main” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable