Which to use
“merced” and “mercy” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #9,152
- “merced” frequency rank
- #28,072
- “mercy” frequency rank
- 37224
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | merced | mercy |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Premio o galardón que se da por el trabajo, especialmente al jornalero. | Misericordia, compasión. |
Where the eye mixes merced and mercy
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. merced runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against mercy's 5 (CVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: merced vs mercy
A purely visual mix-up. merced ([meɾˈseð̞]) and mercy (/ˈmɜːsi/) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37224, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
merced is recorded at frequency rank #9,152, classified as anoun, pronounced [meɾˈseð̞]. mercy is at rank #28,072, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈmɜːsi/.
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 37224, this pair ranks #176,429 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of merced vs mercy
Shared letters: cemr. Private to "merced": d. Private to "mercy": y.
"merced" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "mercy" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "merced" and "mercy" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary Spanish text, does "merced" or "mercy" show up more?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "merced" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "mercy" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #176,429 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "merced" and "mercy" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mec vs mercy". 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 #176,429 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.