malesvsmapasWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“males” and “mapas” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#8,985
“males” frequency rank
#5,635
“mapas” frequency rank
14620
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature males mapas
Definition Forma del plural de mal. Forma del plural de mapa.

Where the eye mixes males and mapas

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

5 ch
males
5 ch
mapas

Visual trap between males and mapas

A purely visual mix-up. males ([ˈmales]) and mapas ([ˈmapas]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14620, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

males is recorded at frequency rank #8,985, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈmales]. mapas is at rank #5,635, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈmapas].

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 14620, this pair ranks #283,411 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of males vs mapas

Shared letters: ams. Private to "males": el. Private to "mapas": p.

"males" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "mapas" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • malesamles · maels · maless · malles · malse · mlaes · mmales
  • mapasampas · maaps · mapass · mappas · mapsa · mmapas · mpaas

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "males" for "mapas" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈmales] versus [ˈmapas]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "males" or "mapas" show up more?
"mapas" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,635 in our Spanish list, against #8,985 for "males". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "males" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "mapas" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #283,411 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "males" and "mapas" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "makes vs males". 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 #283,411 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