manívsmarWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#18,309
“maní” frequency rank
#674
“mar” frequency rank
18983
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature maní mar
Definition (Arachis hypogaea) Planta anual de la familia de las fabáceas, orginaria de América. Tiene hojas pinnadas con dos pares de folíolos oblongos, y flores amarillas con un cáliz tubular, cuyo ovario se desplaza al ser fertilizadas hasta enterrarse en el suelo. Los frutos son vainas que crecen y maduran bajo tierra. Cuerpo de agua salada que rodea los continentes de la Tierra.

Where the eye mixes maní and mar

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

4 ch
maní
3 ch
mar

Look-alike desk: maní vs mar

A purely visual mix-up. maní ([maˈni]) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 18983, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

maní is recorded at frequency rank #18,309, classified as anoun, pronounced [maˈni]. 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 18983, this pair ranks #265,656 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of maní vs mar

Shared letters: am. Private to "maní": . Private to "mar": r.

"maní" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "mar" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "maní" for "mar" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([maˈni] versus [ˈmaɾ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "maní" vs "mar" - which ranks higher?
"mar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #674 in our Spanish list, against #18,309 for "maní". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "maní" 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 #265,656 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "maní" and "mar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "maní vs math". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #265,656 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