makesvsmamesConfusable pair

Quick tell: makes is a verb, mames is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“makes” is a verb and “mames” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#49,124
“makes” frequency rank
#12,862
“mames” frequency rank
61986
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature makes mames
Definition Hace, Presente del modo indicativo para la tercera persona del singular del verbo make. Forma del plural de mame.

Where the eye mixes makes and mames

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. makes and mames follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

5 ch
makes
5 ch
mames

Why the eye confuses makes with mames

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: makes is /meɪks/ while mames is [ˈmames]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - k in “makes” becomes m in “mames”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 61986, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

makes is recorded at frequency rank #49,124, classified as averb, pronounced /meɪks/. mames is at rank #12,862, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈmames].

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 61986, this pair ranks #53,603 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of makes vs mames

Shared letters: aems. Private to "makes": k. Private to "mames": -.

"makes" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "mames" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • makes ← amkes · maeks · makess · makkes · makse · mkaes · mmakes
  • mames ← ammes · maems · mamess · mammes · mamse · mmaes · mmames

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "makes" and "mames" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "makes" is a verb and "mames" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "makes" or "mames"?
"mames" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,862 in our Spanish list, against #49,124 for "makes". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "makes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "mames" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #53,603 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "makes" and "mames" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "makes vs Marks". 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 #53,603 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