mecvsmurWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#38,809
“mec” frequency rank
#49,813
“mur” frequency rank
88622
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mec mur
Definition Hombre enérgico. Ratón (roedor).

Where the eye mixes mec and mur

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence. mec and mur follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

3 ch
mec
3 ch
mur

Visual trap between mec and mur

A purely visual mix-up. mec ([mɛk]) and mur ([ˈmuɾ]) 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 88622, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mec is recorded at frequency rank #38,809, classified as anoun, pronounced [mɛk]. mur is at rank #49,813, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈmuɾ].

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 88622, this pair ranks #3,648 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of mec vs mur

Shared letters: m. Private to "mec": ce. Private to "mur": ru.

"mec" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "mur" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "mec" for "mur" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([mɛk] versus [ˈmuɾ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "mec" or "mur" show up more?
"mec" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #38,809 in our Spanish list, against #49,813 for "mur". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "mec" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "mur" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #3,648 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mec" and "mur" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mop vs mur". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #3,648 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