marevsMrWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: mare is a noun, Mr is an abbrev, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“mare” is a noun and “Mr” is an abbrev - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#25,350
“mare” frequency rank
#4,178
“Mr” frequency rank
29528
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mare Mr
Definition Madre. Sr., abreviatura de mister.

Where the eye mixes mare and Mr

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
mare
2 ch
Mr

Why the eye confuses mare with Mr

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: mare is [ˈma.ɾə] while Mr is /ˈmɪstəɹ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs abbrev), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 29528, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mare is recorded at frequency rank #25,350, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈma.ɾə]. Mr is at rank #4,178, tagged as anabbrev, pronounced /ˈmɪstəɹ/.

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 29528, this pair ranks #216,561 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of mare vs Mr

Shared letters: mr. Private to "mare": ae. Private to "Mr": -.

"mare" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "Mr" · 2 letters · shape CC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • mareamre · marre · mmare · mrae

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "mare" for "Mr" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "mare" is a noun and "Mr" an abbrev, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "mare" or "Mr" show up more?
"Mr" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,178 in our Spanish list, against #25,350 for "mare". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "mare" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Mr" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #216,561 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mare" and "Mr" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mare 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 #216,561 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