Macau
/ma.ˈkaw/
The verdict
“Macau” has 6 generated spelling variants in the Portuguese index at frequency #7,178. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #7,178
- frequency rank, Portuguese
- 2,261
- “M” headwords
- 6
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - região administrativa especial da China, administrada por Portugal até 1999, onde o português é uma das línguas oficiais
Corpus desk
Index PT-macau · Macau · Portuguese
Macau · rank #7,178 · 6 variants · 20 confusables
- FREQ-COMMON #7,178
- LEN-MID 5 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
- VAR-MID 6 variants
- BOOK-MID 2,261
- PHOTO-FINISH manifesto
Nearest frequency peer: manifesto (+1 rank slots)
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
Frequency neighbourhood for “Macau”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- interpretar
interpretar
92,829 corpus weight
- jersey
jersey
92,828 corpus weight
- lida
lida
92,825 corpus weight
- Macau
Macau
92,823 corpus weight
- manifesto
manifesto
92,822 corpus weight
- microfone
microfone
92,817 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “Macau” sits against the nearest ranked Portuguese headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.
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 | Macau |
| Language | Portuguese |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ma.ˈkaw/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #7,178 |
| Misspellings tracked | 6 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “Macau” sits in Portuguese frequency
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 6 spelling variants around Macau (IPA /ma.ˈkaw/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #7,178 among 2,261 “M” headwords. Wiktionary lists 2 senses, so context still picks the gloss.
Our generated misspelling index lists 6 likely wrong-spelling variants for Macau, with forms such as "amcau", "maacu", and "maccau". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "mau", "mata", "mapa", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct Portuguese form is Macau, spelled M-A-C-A-U.
Definition
- 1região administrativa especial da China, administrada por Portugal até 1999, onde o português é uma das línguas oficiais
- 2município brasileiro do estado do Rio Grande do Norte
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- amcau
- maacu
- maccau
- macua
- mcaau
- mmacau
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of Macau - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
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 Portuguese corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of May 6, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "Macau"?
What does "Macau" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "Macau"?
How do you pronounce "Macau"?
What language does "Macau" come from?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Similar Portuguese words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "Macau", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked Portuguese headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
Similar misspelling depth
Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (6 here; floor ≥5).
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.