másvsmuyWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#24
“más” frequency rank
#46
“muy” frequency rank
70
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature más muy
Definition En comparación implícita o explícita, indica "mayor cantidad de, exceso, aumento, superioridad, preferencia". Comparativo irregular de mucho Expresa grado intenso, extenso o de abundancia de la característica del adjetivo o adverbio al que precede y es caracterizado como un adverbio de cantidad o modo..

Where the eye mixes más and muy

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

3 ch
más
3 ch
muy

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. más ([ˈmas]) and muy ([ˈmuj]) 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 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 70, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

más is recorded at frequency rank #24, classified as anadv, pronounced [ˈmas]. muy is at rank #46, tagged as anadv, pronounced [ˈmuj].

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 70, this pair ranks #323,801 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of más vs muy

Shared letters: m. Private to "más": . Private to "muy": uy.

"más" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "muy" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "más" and "muy" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈmas] versus [ˈmuj]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "más" or "muy"?
"más" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #24 in our Spanish list, against #46 for "muy". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

You've compared "más" and "muy". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "más" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "muy" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #323,801 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "más" and "muy" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mur vs muy". Nearby pair

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list