manuvsmensTell them apart

Which to use

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

#15,894
“manu” frequency rank
#43,127
“mens” frequency rank
59021
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature manu mens
Definition Ave, pájaro. Mente, alma, espíritu.

Where the eye mixes manu and mens

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. manu (CVCV) and mens (CVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

4 ch
manu
4 ch
mens

Look-alike desk: manu vs mens

A purely visual mix-up. manu ([ˈma.nu]) and mens (/ˈmens/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 59021, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

manu is recorded at frequency rank #15,894, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈma.nu]. mens is at rank #43,127, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈmens/.

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 59021, this pair ranks #64,209 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of manu vs mens

Shared letters: mn. Private to "manu": au. Private to "mens": es.

"manu" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "mens" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • manu ← amnu · mannu · maun · mmanu · mnau
  • mens ← emns · menns · menss · mesn · mmens · mnes

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "manu" for "mens" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈma.nu] versus /ˈmens/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "manu" or "mens"?
"manu" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,894 in our Spanish list, against #43,127 for "mens". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "manu" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "mens" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #64,209 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "manu" and "mens" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "means vs mens". 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 #64,209 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