mayavsmeraTell them apart

Which to use

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

#5,410
“maya” frequency rank
#7,196
“mera” frequency rank
12606
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature maya mera
Definition Se dice de la persona perteneciente a la cultura mesoamericana precolombina que habitó el sureste de México y Centroamérica entre los siglos IV y X a.C., o descendiente de aquella gente. Forma del femenino de mero₂.

Where the eye mixes maya and mera

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
maya
4 ch
mera

Visual trap between maya and mera

A purely visual mix-up. maya ([ˈmaʝa]) and mera ([ˈmeɾa]) 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 12606, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

maya is recorded at frequency rank #5,410, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈmaʝa]. mera is at rank #7,196, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈmeɾa].

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 12606, this pair ranks #290,930 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of maya vs mera

Shared letters: am. Private to "maya": y. Private to "mera": er.

"maya" · 4 letters · shape CVVV  ·  "mera" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • mayaamya · maay · mayya · mmaya · myaa
  • meraemra · merra · mmera · mrea

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "maya" and "mera" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈmaʝa] versus [ˈmeɾa]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "maya" vs "mera" - which ranks higher?
"maya" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,410 in our Spanish list, against #7,196 for "mera". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "maya" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "mera" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #290,930 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "maya" and "mera" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mera 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 #290,930 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