mañasvsmanoWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#31,436
“mañas” frequency rank
#342
“mano” frequency rank
31778
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mañas mano
Definition Forma del plural de maña. Extremidad prensil y articulada en el extremo distal del brazo de los antropoides.

Where the eye mixes mañas and mano

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

5 ch
mañas
4 ch
mano

Look-alike desk: mañas vs mano

A purely visual mix-up. mañas ([ˈmaɲas]) and mano ([ˈmano]) 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 31778, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mañas is recorded at frequency rank #31,436, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈmaɲas]. mano is at rank #342, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈmano].

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 31778, this pair ranks #205,362 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of mañas vs mano

Shared letters: am. Private to "mañas": . Private to "mano": no.

"mañas" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "mano" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • manoamno · manno · maon · mmano · mnao

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "mañas" and "mano" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈmaɲas] versus [ˈmano]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "mañas" or "mano" show up more?
"mano" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #342 in our Spanish list, against #31,436 for "mañas". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "mañas" and "mano" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "mañas" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "mano" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #205,362 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mañas" and "mano" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "makes vs mañas". 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 #205,362 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