Which to use
“marfil” and “mástil” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #11,085
- “marfil” frequency rank
- #27,317
- “mástil” frequency rank
- 38402
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | marfil | mástil |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Material blanco y duro que forma los colmillos o caninos de animales como los elefantes, morsas, hipopótamos, etc. | Vara larga y robusta, colocada verticalmente sobre la cubierta, a la que se fija el aparejo de las velas de una embarcación. |
Where the eye mixes marfil and mástil
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. marfil and mástil follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses marfil with mástil
A purely visual mix-up. marfil ([maɾˈfil]) and mástil ([ˈmast̪il]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 38402, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
marfil is recorded at frequency rank #11,085, classified as anoun, pronounced [maɾˈfil]. mástil is at rank #27,317, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈmast̪il].
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 38402, this pair ranks #170,227 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of marfil vs mástil
Shared letters: ilm. Private to "marfil": afr. Private to "mástil": stá.
"marfil" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "mástil" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- marfil ← amrfil · mafril · marffil · marfill · marfli · marifl · marrfil · mmarfil
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "marfil" and "mástil" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary Spanish text, does "marfil" or "mástil" show up more?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "marfil" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "mástil" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #170,227 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "marfil" and "mástil" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mantis vs mástil". 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 #170,227 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.