médulavsmulaConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#12,204
“médula” frequency rank
#15,906
“mula” frequency rank
28110
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature médula mula
Definition Tejido graso, hematógeno y flexible que se encuentra en el interior de los huesos de los vertebrados Intoxicación producido por la ingesta de alcohol, que provoca una alteración de la conciencia y de las facultades mentales y físicas.

Where the eye mixes médula and mula

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
médula
4 ch
mula

Why the eye confuses médula with mula

A purely visual mix-up. médula ([ˈmeð̞ula]) and mula ([ˈmula]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 28110, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

médula is recorded at frequency rank #12,204, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈmeð̞ula]. mula is at rank #15,906, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈmula].

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 28110, this pair ranks #223,584 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of médula vs mula

Shared letters: almu. Private to "médula": . Private to "mula": -.

"médula" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "mula" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • mulamlua · mmula · mual · mulla · umla

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "médula" for "mula" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈmeð̞ula] versus [ˈmula]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "médula" or "mula" show up more?
"médula" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,204 in our Spanish list, against #15,906 for "mula". 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 "médula" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "mula" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #223,584 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "médula" and "mula" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mula 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 #223,584 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