mopvsmurWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#47,942
“mop” frequency rank
#49,813
“mur” frequency rank
97755
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mop mur
Definition Trapeador (América), fregona (España). Ratón (roedor).

Where the eye mixes mop and mur

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

3 ch
mop
3 ch
mur

Visual trap between mop and mur

A purely visual mix-up. mop (/mɒp/) 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 97755, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mop is recorded at frequency rank #47,942, classified as anoun, pronounced /mɒp/. 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 97755, this pair ranks #132 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of mop vs mur

Shared letters: m. Private to "mop": op. Private to "mur": ru.

"mop" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "mur" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "mop" for "mur" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/mɒp/ versus [ˈmuɾ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "mop" or "mur" show up more?
"mop" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #47,942 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

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "mop" 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 #132 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mop" and "mur" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mou vs mur". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #132 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