Which to use
“contramão” is an adjective and “contratar” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #18,548
- “contramão” frequency rank
- #5,931
- “contratar” frequency rank
- 24479
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | contramão | contratar |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | que está na contramão (substantivo) | combinar, ajustar |
Where the eye mixes contramão and contratar
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. contramão (CVCCCVCVV) and contratar (CVCCCVCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Look-alike desk: contramão vs contratar
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: contramão is /ˌkõw.tɾa.ˈmãw/ while contratar is /kõ.tɾɐ.ˈtaɾ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 24479, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
contramão is recorded at frequency rank #18,548, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˌkõw.tɾa.ˈmãw/. contratar is at rank #5,931, tagged as averb, pronounced /kõ.tɾɐ.ˈtaɾ/.
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 24479, this pair ranks #45,128 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of contramão vs contratar
Shared letters: acnort. Private to "contramão": mã. Private to "contratar": -.
"contramão" · 9 letters · shape CVCCCVCVV · "contratar" · 9 letters · shape CVCCCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- contratar ← ccontratar · cnotratar · conntratar · conrtatar · contartar · contraatr · contratarr · contratra
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "contramão" and "contratar" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "contramão" or "contratar"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "contramão" and "contratar" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "contramão" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "contratar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #45,128 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "contramão" and "contratar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "contrapor vs contratar". 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 #45,128 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.