marcavsmariWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#1,143
“marca” frequency rank
#12,867
“mari” frequency rank
14010
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature marca mari
Definition Acción o efecto de marcar. Mar.

Where the eye mixes marca and mari

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

5 ch
marca
4 ch
mari

Visual trap between marca and mari

A purely visual mix-up. marca ([ˈmaɾka]) and mari (/ˈma.ɾi/) 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 14010, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

marca is recorded at frequency rank #1,143, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈmaɾka]. mari is at rank #12,867, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈma.ɾi/.

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 14010, this pair ranks #285,724 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of marca vs mari

Shared letters: amr. Private to "marca": c. Private to "mari": i.

"marca" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "mari" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • marcaamrca · macra · marac · marcca · marrca · mmarca · mraca
  • mariamri · mair · marri · mmari · mrai

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "marca" and "mari" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈmaɾka] versus /ˈma.ɾi/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "marca" vs "mari" - which ranks higher?
"marca" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,143 in our Spanish list, against #12,867 for "mari". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "marca" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "mari" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #285,724 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "marca" and "mari" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mari vs mur". 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 #285,724 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