Macao
[maˈkao]
The verdict
“Macao” is a moderately-common Spanish word, ranked #25,343 in Spanish word frequency and used as a proper noun.
- #25,343
- frequency rank, Spanish
- 5
- letters
- 6
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Ciudad de China, ubicada al sur del país, sobre la costa del mar de la China Meridional. Goza de cierta autonomía, bajo el estatuto de Región Administrativa Especial.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | Macao |
| Language | Spanish |
| Part of speech | Proper noun |
| IPA | [maˈkao] |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #25,343 |
| Misspellings tracked | 6 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “Macao” sits in Spanish frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The Spanish entry for Macao is 5 letters long, classified as a proper noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as [maˈkao]. Corpus data places it at rank #25,343 in overall Spanish word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "Ciudad de China, ubicada al sur del país, sobre la costa del mar de la China Meridional. Goza de cierta autonomía, bajo el estatuto de Región Administrativa Especial.".
Our generated misspelling index lists 6 likely wrong-spelling variants for Macao, with forms such as "amcao", "maaco", and "maccao". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "mano", "mayo", "mala", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct Spanish form is Macao, spelled M-A-C-A-O.
Definition
- 1Ciudad de China, ubicada al sur del país, sobre la costa del mar de la China Meridional. Goza de cierta autonomía, bajo el estatuto de Región Administrativa Especial.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: amcao,maaco,maccao,macoa,mcaao,mmacao
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of Macao - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 Spanish corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “Macao”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct Spanish spelling is M-A-C-A-O - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as [maˈkao] (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “mano” - see the side-by-side comparison. Macao vs mano
- Browse more Spanish words and confusable pairs in the same reference. Spanish words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.