masónvsmatenWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: masón is a noun, maten is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“masón” is a noun and “maten” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#34,672
“masón” frequency rank
#10,371
“maten” frequency rank
45043
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature masón maten
Definition Persona que pertenece a la francmasonería. Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de subjuntivo de matar o de matarse.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set masón and maten apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
masón
5 ch
maten

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: masón is [maˈsõn] while maten is [ˈmat̪ẽn]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45043, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

masón is recorded at frequency rank #34,672, classified as anoun, pronounced [maˈsõn]. maten is at rank #10,371, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈmat̪ẽn].

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 45043, this pair ranks #133,707 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of masón vs maten

Shared letters: amn. Private to "masón": . Private to "maten": et.

"masón" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "maten" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • matenamten · maetn · matenn · matne · matten · mmaten · mtaen

Frequency comparison

masón#34,672
maten#10,371

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "masón" and "maten" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "masón" is a noun and "maten" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "masón" or "maten"?
"maten" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,371 in our Spanish list, against #34,672 for "masón". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering masón vs maten

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “masón”; for a verb, it's “maten”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “masón” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list