Which to use
“María” is a name and “marías” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #749
- “María” frequency rank
- #26,919
- “marías” frequency rank
- 27668
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | María | marías |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Nombre de pila de mujer, popular en países de tradición cristiana por ser el nombre de la madre de Jesús. | Forma del plural de maría. |
Where the eye mixes María and marías
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. María runs 5 letters (CVCVV) against marías's 6 (CVCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: María vs marías
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: María is [maˈɾia] while marías is [maˈɾias]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “María” sits inside “marías”, and the parts of speech differ too (name vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 27668, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
María is recorded at frequency rank #749, classified as aname, pronounced [maˈɾia]. marías is at rank #26,919, tagged as anoun, pronounced [maˈɾias].
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 27668, this pair ranks #225,730 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of María vs marías
Shared letters: amrí. Private to "María": -. Private to "marías": s.
"María" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV · "marías" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "María" and "marías" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary Spanish text, does "María" or "marías" show up more?
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 "María" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "marías" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #225,730 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "María" and "marías" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "marías vs Marks". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #225,730 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.