manívsmayTell them apart

Which to use

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

#18,309
“maní” frequency rank
#6,205
“may” frequency rank
24514
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature maní may
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. Mayo.

Where the eye mixes maní and may

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

4 ch
maní
3 ch
may

Why the eye confuses maní with may

A purely visual mix-up. maní ([maˈni]) and may ([ˈmɑj]) 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 24514, 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]. may is at rank #6,205, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈmɑj].

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 24514, this pair ranks #240,816 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of maní vs may

Shared letters: am. Private to "maní": . Private to "may": y.

"maní" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "may" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "maní" and "may" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([maˈni] versus [ˈmɑj]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "maní" or "may"?
"may" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,205 in our Spanish list, against #18,309 for "maní". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "maní" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "may" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #240,816 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "maní" and "may" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "maní vs math". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #240,816 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