Which to use
“maracas” is a noun and “marcan” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #46,048
- “maracas” frequency rank
- #10,706
- “marcan” frequency rank
- 56754
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | maracas | marcan |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Forma del plural de maraca. | Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de marcar. |
Where the eye mixes maracas and marcan
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. maracas runs 7 letters (CVCVCVC) against marcan's 6 (CVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between maracas and marcan
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: maracas is [maˈɾakas] while marcan is [ˈmaɾkãn]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 56754, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
maracas is recorded at frequency rank #46,048, classified as anoun, pronounced [maˈɾakas]. marcan is at rank #10,706, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈmaɾkãn].
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 56754, this pair ranks #73,263 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of maracas vs marcan
Shared letters: acmr. Private to "maracas": s. Private to "marcan": n.
"maracas" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC · "marcan" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "maracas" for "marcan" ever safe?
In ordinary Spanish text, does "maracas" or "marcan" show up more?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "maracas" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "marcan" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #73,263 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "maracas" and "marcan" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "maracas vs mirabas". 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 #73,263 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.