marcarávsmascarWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#33,222
“marcará” frequency rank
#39,855
“mascar” frequency rank
73077
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature marcará mascar
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del futuro de indicativo de marcar. Masticar reiteradamente algo sin llegar a tragarlo.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set marcará and mascar apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch
marcará
6 ch
mascar

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. marcará ([maɾkaˈɾa]) and mascar ([masˈkaɾ]) 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 73077, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

marcará is recorded at frequency rank #33,222, classified as averb, pronounced [maɾkaˈɾa]. mascar is at rank #39,855, tagged as averb, pronounced [masˈkaɾ].

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 73077, this pair ranks #24,053 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of marcará vs mascar

Shared letters: acmr. Private to "marcará": á. Private to "mascar": s.

"marcará" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV  ·  "mascar" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • mascaramscar · macsar · masacr · mascarr · masccar · mascra · masscar · mmascar

Frequency comparison

marcará#33,222
mascar#39,855

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "marcará" and "mascar" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([maɾkaˈɾa] versus [masˈkaɾ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "marcará" or "mascar"?
"marcará" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #33,222 in our Spanish list, against #39,855 for "mascar". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering marcará vs mascar

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “marcará” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list