makesvsmapsWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#49,124
“makes” frequency rank
#13,510
“maps” frequency rank
62634
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

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

Where the eye mixes makes and maps

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

5 ch
makes
4 ch
maps

Look-alike desk: makes vs maps

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: makes is /meɪks/ while maps is /mæps/. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 62634, 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/. maps is at rank #13,510, tagged as anoun, pronounced /mæps/.

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 62634, this pair ranks #51,357 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of makes vs maps

Shared letters: ams. Private to "makes": ek. Private to "maps": p.

"makes" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "maps" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • makesamkes · maeks · makess · makkes · makse · mkaes · mmakes
  • mapsamps · mapps · mapss · masp · mmaps · mpas

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "makes" for "maps" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "makes" is a verb and "maps" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "makes" vs "maps" - which ranks higher?
"maps" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,510 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.

After this comparison

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 "maps" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #51,357 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "makes" and "maps" 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 #51,357 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