mamvsmamarTell them apart

Quick tell: mam is a noun, mamar is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“mam” is a noun and “mamar” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#33,218
“mam” frequency rank
#21,394
“mamar” frequency rank
54612
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mam mamar
Definition Ancestro. Aspirar con fuerza, usando los labios y la succión de la garganta para extraer algo del material o recipiente que lo contiene, en particular la leche materna del seno.

Where the eye mixes mam and mamar

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. mam runs 3 letters (CVC) against mamar's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

3 ch
mam
5 ch
mamar

Look-alike desk: mam vs mamar

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: mam is /mam/ while mamar is [maˈmaɾ]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “mam” sits inside “mamar”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 54612, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mam is recorded at frequency rank #33,218, classified as anoun, pronounced /mam/. mamar is at rank #21,394, tagged as averb, pronounced [maˈmaɾ].

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 54612, this pair ranks #82,542 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of mam vs mamar

Shared letters: am. Private to "mam": -. Private to "mamar": r.

"mam" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "mamar" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • mamar ← maamr · mamarr · mammar · mamra · mmaar · mmamar

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "mam" and "mamar" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "mam" is a noun and "mamar" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "mam" or "mamar"?
"mamar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #21,394 in our Spanish list, against #33,218 for "mam". 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 "mam" and "mamar" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "mam" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "mamar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #82,542 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mam" and "mamar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mam vs mur". 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 #82,542 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