malosvsmasónWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: malos is a adjective, masón is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“malos” is an adjective and “masón” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#2,121
“malos” frequency rank
#34,672
“masón” frequency rank
36793
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature malos masón
Definition Forma del masculino plural de malo o mal. Persona que pertenece a la francmasonería.

Where the eye mixes malos and masón

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

5 ch
malos
5 ch
masón

Why the eye confuses malos with masón

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: malos is [ˈmalos] while masón is [maˈsõn]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 36793, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

malos is recorded at frequency rank #2,121, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈmalos]. masón is at rank #34,672, tagged as anoun, pronounced [maˈsõn].

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 36793, this pair ranks #178,738 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of malos vs masón

Shared letters: ams. Private to "malos": lo. Private to "masón": .

"malos" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "masón" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • malosamlos · mallos · maloss · malso · maols · mlaos · mmalos

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "malos" for "masón" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "malos" is an adjective and "masón" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "malos" or "masón"?
"malos" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,121 in our Spanish list, against #34,672 for "masón". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "malos" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "masón" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #178,738 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "malos" and "masón" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "masón vs mirón". 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 #178,738 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