makesvsmesWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#49,124
“makes” frequency rank
#403
“mes” frequency rank
49527
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature makes mes
Definition Hace, Presente del modo indicativo para la tercera persona del singular del verbo make. Cada una de las doce partes, de duración variable según el sistema pero similar al ciclo lunar, en que se divide el año.

Where the eye mixes makes and mes

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

5 ch
makes
3 ch
mes

Visual trap between makes and mes

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: makes is /meɪks/ while mes is [ˈmes]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 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 49527, 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/. mes is at rank #403, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈmes].

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 49527, this pair ranks #108,314 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of makes vs mes

Shared letters: ems. Private to "makes": ak. Private to "mes": -.

"makes" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "mes" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • makesamkes · maeks · makess · makkes · makse · mkaes · mmakes

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "makes" and "mes" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "makes" is a verb and "mes" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "makes" or "mes" show up more?
"mes" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #403 in our Spanish list, against #49,124 for "makes". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "makes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "mes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #108,314 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "makes" and "mes" 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 #108,314 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