Which to use
“man” and “mar” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #2,571
- “man” frequency rank
- #674
- “mar” frequency rank
- 3245
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | man | mar |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Variante obsoleta de mano. | Cuerpo de agua salada que rodea los continentes de la Tierra. |
Where the eye mixes man and mar
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses man with mar
A purely visual mix-up. man ([ˈmãn]) and mar ([ˈmaɾ]) 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 a single letter - n in “man” becomes r in “mar”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 3245, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
man is recorded at frequency rank #2,571, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈmãn]. mar is at rank #674, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈmaɾ].
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 3245, this pair ranks #318,722 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of man vs mar
Shared letters: am. Private to "man": n. Private to "mar": r.
"man" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "mar" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "man" for "mar" ever safe?
In ordinary Spanish text, does "man" or "mar" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "man" and "mar" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "man" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "mar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #318,722 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "man" and "mar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "man vs mur". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #318,722 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.