maletasvsmaletínTell them apart

Which to use

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

#11,445
“maletas” frequency rank
#23,126
“maletín” frequency rank
34571
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature maletas maletín
Definition Forma del plural de maleta. Maleta pequeña usada para transportar documentos, portátiles, etc. Generalmente usada por ejecutivos y hombres de negocios.

Where the eye mixes maletas and maletín

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. maletas and maletín follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

7 ch
maletas
7 ch
maletín

Look-alike desk: maletas vs maletín

A purely visual mix-up. maletas ([maˈlet̪as]) and maletín ([maleˈt̪ĩn]) 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 34571, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

maletas is recorded at frequency rank #11,445, classified as anoun, pronounced [maˈlet̪as]. maletín is at rank #23,126, tagged as anoun, pronounced [maleˈt̪ĩn].

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 34571, this pair ranks #190,699 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of maletas vs maletín

Shared letters: aelmt. Private to "maletas": s. Private to "maletín": ní.

"maletas" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC  ·  "maletín" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • maletas ← amletas · maeltas · maleats · maletass · maletsa · malettas · malletas · malteas

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "maletas" for "maletín" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([maˈlet̪as] versus [maleˈt̪ĩn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "maletas" or "maletín" show up more?
"maletas" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,445 in our Spanish list, against #23,126 for "maletín". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "maletas" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "maletín" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #190,699 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "maletas" and "maletín" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "maletas vs mesetas". 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 #190,699 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