maovsminoWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“mao” and “mino” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#13,014
“mao” frequency rank
#47,197
“mino” frequency rank
60211
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mao mino
Definition The ma'oma'o, Gymnomyza samoensis, a large passerine bird native to Samoa. A traditional Japanese raincoat made from straw.

Letter map: mao vs mino

Shared letters muted; letters that set mao and mino apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.

3 ch
mao
4 ch
mino

Spelling & dictionary notes on mao vs mino

mao and mino are indexed as a confusable English pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 60211, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mao is recorded at frequency rank #13,014, classified as anoun. mino is at rank #47,197, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈmɪnəʊ/.

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 60211, this pair ranks #101,586 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of mao vs mino

Shared letters: mo. Private to "mao": a. Private to "mino": in.

"mao" · 3 letters · shape CVV  ·  "mino" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • minoimno · minno · mion · mmino · mnio

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "mao" and "mino" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Which is more common, "mao" or "mino"?
"mao" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,014 in our English list, against #47,197 for "mino". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pair "mao" vs "mino" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "mao" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "mino" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #101,586 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mao" and "mino" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "malo vs mino". 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 #101,586 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list