manosvsmansConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#502
“manos” frequency rank
#43,698
“mans” frequency rank
44200
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature manos mans
Definition Forma del plural de mano. Forma del plural de mà.

Where the eye mixes manos and mans

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

5 ch
manos
4 ch
mans

Why the eye confuses manos with mans

A purely visual mix-up. manos ([ˈmanos]) and mans ([ˈmans]) 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 44200, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

manos is recorded at frequency rank #502, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈmanos]. mans is at rank #43,698, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈmans].

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 44200, this pair ranks #138,393 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of manos vs mans

Shared letters: amns. Private to "manos": o. Private to "mans": -.

"manos" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "mans" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • manosamnos · mannos · manoss · maons · mmanos · mnaos
  • mansamns · manns · manss · masn · mmans · mnas

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "manos" and "mans" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈmanos] versus [ˈmans]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "manos" vs "mans" - which ranks higher?
"manos" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #502 in our Spanish list, against #43,698 for "mans". 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 "manos" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "mans" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #138,393 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "manos" and "mans" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "makes vs mans". 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 #138,393 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