Which to use
“mantel” is a noun and “mantén” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #30,996
- “mantel” frequency rank
- #23,856
- “mantén” frequency rank
- 54852
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | mantel | mantén |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pieza de tela u otro material que se pone sobre la mesa y debajo de los platos y cubiertos. | Segunda persona del singular (tú) del imperativo afirmativo de mantener. |
Where the eye mixes mantel and mantén
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. mantel and mantén follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: mantel vs mantén
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: mantel is [mãn̪ˈt̪el] while mantén is [mãn̪ˈt̪ẽn]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 54852, 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]. mantén is at rank #23,856, tagged as averb, pronounced [mãn̪ˈt̪ẽn].
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 54852, this pair ranks #81,504 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of mantel vs mantén
Shared letters: amnt. Private to "mantel": el. Private to "mantén": é.
"mantel" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "mantén" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- mantel ← amntel · manetl · manntel · mantell · mantle · manttel · matnel · mmantel
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "mantel" and "mantén" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "mantel" or "mantén"?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "mantel" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "mantén" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #81,504 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "mantel" and "mantén" 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 #81,504 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.