maresvsmarvelTell them apart

Which to use

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

#10,529
“mares” frequency rank
#12,422
“marvel” frequency rank
22951
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mares marvel
Definition Forma del plural de mar. Maravilla.

Where the eye mixes mares and marvel

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

5 ch
mares
6 ch
marvel

Why the eye confuses mares with marvel

A purely visual mix-up. mares ([ˈmaɾes]) and marvel (/ˈmɑɹvl̩/) 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 22951, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mares is recorded at frequency rank #10,529, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈmaɾes]. marvel is at rank #12,422, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈmɑɹvl̩/.

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 22951, this pair ranks #248,017 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of mares vs marvel

Shared letters: aemr. Private to "mares": s. Private to "marvel": lv.

"mares" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "marvel" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • maresamres · maers · maress · marres · marse · mmares · mraes
  • marvelamrvel · marbel · marevl · marrvel · marvell · marvle · marvvel · mavrel

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "mares" for "marvel" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈmaɾes] versus /ˈmɑɹvl̩/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "mares" or "marvel" show up more?
"mares" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,529 in our Spanish list, against #12,422 for "marvel". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "mares" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "marvel" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #248,017 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mares" and "marvel" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "makes vs mares". 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 #248,017 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