MartavsMaryTell them apart

Which to use

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

#5,329
“Marta” frequency rank
#4,805
“Mary” frequency rank
10134
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Marta Mary
Definition Nombre de pila de mujer. En La Biblia fue la hermana de María y Lázaro. Nombre personal femenino, equivalente a María.

Where the eye mixes Marta and Mary

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
Marta
4 ch
Mary

Why the eye confuses Marta with Mary

A purely visual mix-up. Marta ([ˈmaɾt̪a]) and Mary (/ˈmɛə.ɹi/) 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 10134, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Marta is recorded at frequency rank #5,329, classified as aname, pronounced [ˈmaɾt̪a]. Mary is at rank #4,805, tagged as aname, pronounced /ˈmɛə.ɹi/.

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 10134, this pair ranks #299,699 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Marta vs Mary

Shared letters: amr. Private to "Marta": t. Private to "Mary": y.

"Marta" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "Mary" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Martaamrta · marat · marrta · martta · mmarta · mrata
  • Maryamry · marry · maryy · mayr · mmary · mray

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Marta" for "Mary" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈmaɾt̪a] versus /ˈmɛə.ɹi/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Marta" or "Mary"?
"Mary" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,805 in our Spanish list, against #5,329 for "Marta". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Marta" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Mary" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #299,699 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Marta" and "Mary" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Mary 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 #299,699 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