mau

/ˈmaw/

//ˈmaw// adj

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“mau” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #1,936) as an adjective. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#1,936
frequency rank, Portuguese
1,087
“M” headwords
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - que não é de boa qualidade, ruim

Corpus desk

Index PT-mau · mau · Portuguese

mau · rank #1,936 · 0 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #1,936
  • LEN-MID 3 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 1,087
  • PHOTO-FINISH naquela

Nearest frequency peer: naquela (+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.

Vizinhos de frequência do confusável “mau”

Pares de peso semelhante no corpus, aparte dos confusáveis abaixo

corpus weight

What this shows As barras situam “mau” face aos lemas portugueses mais próximos por rank, não um reprint da secretária de confusáveis.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

mau vs me
33% similar
mau vs my
33% similar
mau vs mi
33% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for mau
PropertyValue
Headwordmau
LanguagePortuguese
Part of speechAdjective
IPA/ˈmaw/
Letters3
Frequency rank#1,936
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Rank de corpus junto a confusáveis de “mau”

Da esquerda para a direita: o pouco que carrega a fala diária, depois a cauda longa quase invisível.maucai aqui:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Os ticks avançam em logaritmo; cada um é da ordem de dez vezes mais raro. Na mesma faixa de raridade aparecem “naquela” (#1,937), “it” (#1,934), “Israel” (#1,933). Entre 1,087 lemas com “M”, “mau” fica em #1,936. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for mau is neighbouring look-alikes ("me", "my", …), not just typos; it is anadjective pronounced /ˈmaw/. Frequency #1,936 among 1,087 “M” headwords. 6 recorded senses keep meaning in play.

No misspelling variants are generated for mau in our index, a sign its spelling follows regular Portuguese conventions. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "me", "my", "mi", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. The correct Portuguese form is mau, spelled M-A-U.

Definition

  1. 1
    que não é de boa qualidade, ruim
  2. 2
    que não tem bom instinto
  3. 3
    sem talento ou arte, ruim
  4. 4
    que exprime maldade, perverso
  5. 5
    duro; difícil; funesto; irrequieto
  6. 6
    nocivo, perigoso, prejudicial

This word in other languages

bad(English)malo(Español)mal(Français)schlecht(Deutsch)

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.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "mau"?
"mau" is spelled M-A-U. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈmaw/.
What does "mau" mean?
As an adjective, "mau" means: que não é de boa qualidade, ruim
What words are commonly confused with "mau"?
"mau" is commonly confused with "me", "my", "mi". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "mau"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "mau" is /ˈmaw/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "mau" come from?
"mau" is a Portuguese word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar Portuguese words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "mau", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked Portuguese headwords with 3 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

pão#1,942dom#1,921all#2,001par#2,060

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list