manosvsmassWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#502
“manos” frequency rank
#15,896
“mass” frequency rank
16398
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature manos mass
Definition Forma del plural de mano. Masa.

Where the eye mixes manos and mass

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
manos
4 ch
mass

Why the eye confuses manos with mass

A purely visual mix-up. manos ([ˈmanos]) and mass (/mæs/) 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 16398, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

manos is recorded at frequency rank #502, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈmanos]. mass is at rank #15,896, tagged as anoun, pronounced /mæs/.

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 16398, this pair ranks #276,327 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of manos vs mass

Shared letters: ams. Private to "manos": no. Private to "mass": -.

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

Known mistypes of this pair

  • manosamnos · mannos · manoss · maons · mmanos · mnaos
  • massamss · mas · mmass · msas

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "manos" for "mass" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈmanos] versus /mæs/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "manos" or "mass"?
"manos" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #502 in our Spanish list, against #15,896 for "mass". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "manos" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "mass" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #276,327 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "manos" and "mass" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "makes vs mass". 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 #276,327 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