maletavsmareaTell them apart

Which to use

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

#10,173
“maleta” frequency rank
#8,022
“marea” frequency rank
18195
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature maleta marea
Definition Caja o recipiente, dotado de asas u otros medios de sujeción, empleada para transportar ropas y otros enseres en cierta cantidad durante un viaje. Ascenso o flujo del agua que da lugar a la pleamar y descenso o reflujo que motiva la bajamar. Es un fenómeno que ocurre dos veces al día, ocasionado por la atracción gravitatoria de la Luna y del Sol.

Where the eye mixes maleta and marea

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
maleta
5 ch
marea

Why the eye confuses maleta with marea

A purely visual mix-up. maleta ([maˈlet̪a]) and marea ([maˈɾea]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 18195, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

maleta is recorded at frequency rank #10,173, classified as anoun, pronounced [maˈlet̪a]. marea is at rank #8,022, tagged as anoun, pronounced [maˈɾea].

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 18195, this pair ranks #268,925 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of maleta vs marea

Shared letters: aem. Private to "maleta": lt. Private to "marea": r.

"maleta" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "marea" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • maletaamleta · maelta · maleat · maletta · malleta · maltea · mlaeta · mmaleta
  • mareaamrea · maera · marae · marrea · mmarea · mraea

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "maleta" and "marea" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([maˈlet̪a] versus [maˈɾea]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "maleta" vs "marea" - which ranks higher?
"marea" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,022 in our Spanish list, against #10,173 for "maleta". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "maleta" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "marea" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #268,925 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "maleta" and "marea" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "maleta vs Matta". 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 #268,925 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