mayavsmodaWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: maya is a adjective, moda is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“maya” is an adjective and “moda” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#5,410
“maya” frequency rank
#1,946
“moda” frequency rank
7356
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature maya moda
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. Estilo popular en el vestir, actuar, pensar etc.

Where the eye mixes maya and moda

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

4 ch
maya
4 ch
moda

Visual trap between maya and moda

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: maya is [ˈmaʝa] while moda is [ˈmoð̞a]. 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 (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 7356, 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]. moda is at rank #1,946, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈmoð̞a].

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 7356, this pair ranks #308,219 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of maya vs moda

Shared letters: am. Private to "maya": y. Private to "moda": do.

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

Known mistypes of this pair

  • mayaamya · maay · mayya · mmaya · myaa
  • modamdoa · mmoda · moad · modda · omda

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "maya" for "moda" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "maya" is an adjective and "moda" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "maya" or "moda"?
"moda" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,946 in our Spanish list, against #5,410 for "maya". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "maya" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "moda" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #308,219 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "maya" and "moda" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "math vs maya". 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 #308,219 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