marca vs mercy, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“marca” and “mercy” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#1,013
“marca” frequency rank: #16,818
“mercy” frequency rank: 17831
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	marca	mercy
Definition	ato ou efeito de marcar	misericórdia

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set marca and mercy apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch

marca

5 ch

mercy

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. marca (/ˈmaɾ.kɐ/) and mercy (/ˈmɜrsi/) 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 17831, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

marca is recorded at frequency rank #1,013, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈmaɾ.kɐ/. mercy is at rank #16,818, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈmɜrsi/.

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 17831, this pair ranks #53,309 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of marca vs mercy

Shared letters: cmr. Private to "marca": a. Private to "mercy": ey.

"marca" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "mercy" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

marca ← amrca · macra · marac · marcca · marrca · mmarca · mraca
mercy ← emrcy · mecry · merccy · mercyy · merrcy · meryc · mmercy · mrecy

Frequency comparison

marca#1,013

mercy#16,818

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "marca" and "mercy" be used interchangeably?

No. They are said differently (/ˈmaɾ.kɐ/ versus /ˈmɜrsi/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.

Which is more common, "marca" or "mercy"?

"marca" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,013 in our Portuguese list, against #16,818 for "mercy". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering marca vs mercy

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “marca” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable