Which to use
“mercy” and “merma” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #28,072
- “mercy” frequency rank
- #28,448
- “merma” frequency rank
- 56520
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | mercy | merma |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Misericordia, compasión. | Acción o efecto de mermar. |
Where the eye mixes mercy and merma
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. mercy and merma follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses mercy with merma
A purely visual mix-up. mercy (/ˈmɜːsi/) and merma ([ˈmeɾma]) 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 56520, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
mercy is recorded at frequency rank #28,072, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈmɜːsi/. merma is at rank #28,448, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈmeɾma].
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 56520, this pair ranks #74,290 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of mercy vs merma
Shared letters: emr. Private to "mercy": cy. Private to "merma": a.
"mercy" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "merma" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "mercy" for "merma" ever safe?
Which is more common, "mercy" or "merma"?
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 "mercy" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "merma" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #74,290 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "mercy" and "merma" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mepa vs merma". 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 #74,290 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.