MarkvsmaskWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#2,587
“Mark” frequency rank
#36,537
“mask” frequency rank
39124
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Mark mask
Definition Marcos máscara

Where the eye mixes Mark and mask

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

4 ch
Mark
4 ch
mask

Why the eye confuses Mark with mask

A purely visual mix-up. Mark (/maːk/ (Austrália).) and mask (/mæsk/) 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 a single letter - r in “Mark” becomes s in “mask”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39124, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Mark is recorded at frequency rank #2,587, classified as anoun, pronounced /maːk/ (Austrália).. mask is at rank #36,537, tagged as anoun, pronounced /mæsk/.

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 39124, this pair ranks #27,211 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Mark vs mask

Shared letters: akm. Private to "Mark": r. Private to "mask": s.

"Mark" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "mask" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Markamrk · makr · markk · marrk · mmark · mrak
  • maskamsk · maks · maskk · massk · mmask · msak

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Mark" for "mask" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/maːk/ (Austrália). versus /mæsk/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Mark" or "mask"?
"Mark" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,587 in our Portuguese list, against #36,537 for "mask". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Mark" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "mask" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #27,211 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Mark" and "mask" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "maa vs mask". 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 #27,211 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list