marshvsmaskTell them apart

Which to use

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

#25,040
“marsh” frequency rank
#36,537
“mask” frequency rank
61577
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature marsh mask
Definition brejo máscara

Where the eye mixes marsh and mask

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

5 ch
marsh
4 ch
mask

Look-alike desk: marsh vs mask

A purely visual mix-up. marsh (/mɑɹʃ/) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 61577, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

marsh is recorded at frequency rank #25,040, classified as anoun, pronounced /mɑɹʃ/. 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 61577, this pair ranks #7,078 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of marsh vs mask

Shared letters: ams. Private to "marsh": hr. Private to "mask": k.

"marsh" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC  ·  "mask" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • marshamrsh · marhs · marrsh · marshh · marssh · masrh · mmarsh · mrash
  • maskamsk · maks · maskk · massk · mmask · msak

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "marsh" and "mask" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/mɑɹʃ/ versus /mæsk/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "marsh" or "mask" show up more?
"marsh" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #25,040 in our Portuguese list, against #36,537 for "mask". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "marsh" and "mask" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "marsh" 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 #7,078 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "marsh" 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 #7,078 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