malosvsmudosConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#2,121
“malos” frequency rank
#35,151
“mudos” frequency rank
37272
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature malos mudos
Definition Forma del masculino plural de malo o mal. Forma del plural masculino de mudo.

Where the eye mixes malos and mudos

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

5 ch
malos
5 ch
mudos

Look-alike desk: malos vs mudos

A purely visual mix-up. malos ([ˈmalos]) and mudos ([ˈmuð̞os]) 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 37272, 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]. mudos is at rank #35,151, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈmuð̞os].

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 37272, this pair ranks #176,181 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of malos vs mudos

Shared letters: mos. Private to "malos": al. Private to "mudos": du.

"malos" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "mudos" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • malosamlos · mallos · maloss · malso · maols · mlaos · mmalos
  • mudosmduos · mmudos · muddos · mudoss · mudso · muods · umdos

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "malos" and "mudos" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈmalos] versus [ˈmuð̞os]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "malos" or "mudos" show up more?
"malos" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,121 in our Spanish list, against #35,151 for "mudos". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "malos" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "mudos" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #176,181 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "malos" and "mudos" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mudamos vs mudos". 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 #176,181 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