mantelvsmantelesWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#30,996
“mantel” frequency rank
#43,115
“manteles” frequency rank
74111
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mantel manteles
Definition Pieza de tela u otro material que se pone sobre la mesa y debajo de los platos y cubiertos. Forma del plural de mantel.

Where the eye mixes mantel and manteles

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. mantel runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against manteles's 8 (CVCCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
mantel
8 ch
manteles

Look-alike desk: mantel vs manteles

A purely visual mix-up. mantel ([mãn̪ˈt̪el]) and manteles ([mãn̪ˈt̪eles]) 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 2 extra letter(s) - “mantel” sits inside “manteles”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 74111, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mantel is recorded at frequency rank #30,996, classified as anoun, pronounced [mãn̪ˈt̪el]. manteles is at rank #43,115, tagged as anoun, pronounced [mãn̪ˈt̪eles].

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 74111, this pair ranks #21,948 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of mantel vs manteles

Shared letters: aelmnt. Private to "mantel": -. Private to "manteles": s.

"mantel" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "manteles" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • mantelamntel · manetl · manntel · mantell · mantle · manttel · matnel · mmantel
  • mantelesamnteles · manetles · mannteles · manteels · manteless · mantelles · mantelse · mantlees

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "mantel" and "manteles" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([mãn̪ˈt̪el] versus [mãn̪ˈt̪eles]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "mantel" vs "manteles" - which ranks higher?
"mantel" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #30,996 in our Spanish list, against #43,115 for "manteles". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "mantel" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "manteles" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #21,948 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mantel" and "manteles" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mantel vs mantis". 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 #21,948 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