mazavsmolaWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#19,489
“maza” frequency rank
#12,649
“mola” frequency rank
32138
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature maza mola
Definition Arma antigua, hecha de palo guarnecido de hierro, o toda de hierro, con la cabeza gruesa. Harina de escanda, tostada y mezclada con sal, que se usaba para quemar reses en los sacrificios antiguos.

Where the eye mixes maza and mola

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. maza and mola follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

4 ch
maza
4 ch
mola

Visual trap between maza and mola

A purely visual mix-up. maza ([ˈmasa]) and mola ([ˈmola]) 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 32138, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

maza is recorded at frequency rank #19,489, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈmasa]. mola is at rank #12,649, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈmola].

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 32138, this pair ranks #203,580 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of maza vs mola

Shared letters: am. Private to "maza": z. Private to "mola": lo.

"maza" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "mola" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • mazaamza · maaz · mazza · mmaza · mzaa
  • molamloa · mmola · moal · molla · omla

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "maza" for "mola" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈmasa] versus [ˈmola]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "maza" or "mola"?
"mola" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,649 in our Spanish list, against #19,489 for "maza". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "maza" and "mola" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "maza" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "mola" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #203,580 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "maza" and "mola" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "maza vs melaza". 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 #203,580 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