Which to use
“María” is a name and “maza” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #749
- “María” frequency rank
- #19,489
- “maza” frequency rank
- 20238
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | María | maza |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Nombre de pila de mujer, popular en países de tradición cristiana por ser el nombre de la madre de Jesús. | Arma antigua, hecha de palo guarnecido de hierro, o toda de hierro, con la cabeza gruesa. |
Where the eye mixes María and maza
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses María with maza
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: María is [maˈɾia] while maza is [ˈmasa]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (name vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 20238, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
María is recorded at frequency rank #749, classified as aname, pronounced [maˈɾia]. maza is at rank #19,489, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈmasa].
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 20238, this pair ranks #260,215 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of María vs maza
Shared letters: am. Private to "María": rí. Private to "maza": z.
"María" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV · "maza" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- maza ← amza · maaz · mazza · mmaza · mzaa
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "María" for "maza" ever safe?
Which is more common, "María" or "maza"?
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 "maza" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #260,215 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "María" and "maza" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "maza vs melaza". 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 #260,215 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.