mamónvsmemoWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#27,677
“mamón” frequency rank
#19,175
“memo” frequency rank
46852
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mamón memo
Definition Dicho de un mamífero, que aún se alimenta de leche materna. Falto de inteligencia o entendimiento.

Where the eye mixes mamón and memo

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. mamón runs 5 letters (CVCVC) against memo's 4 (CVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
mamón
4 ch
memo

Look-alike desk: mamón vs memo

A purely visual mix-up. mamón ([maˈmõn]) and memo ([ˈmemo]) 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 46852, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mamón is recorded at frequency rank #27,677, classified as anadj, pronounced [maˈmõn]. memo is at rank #19,175, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈmemo].

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 46852, this pair ranks #123,372 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of mamón vs memo

Shared letters: m. Private to "mamón": anó. Private to "memo": eo.

"mamón" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "memo" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • memo ← emmo · memmo · meom · mmemo · mmeo

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "mamón" for "memo" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([maˈmõn] versus [ˈmemo]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "mamón" vs "memo" - which ranks higher?
"memo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #19,175 in our Spanish list, against #27,677 for "mamón". 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 "mamón" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "memo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #123,372 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mamón" and "memo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mamón vs mamones". 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 #123,372 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