maa vs maço, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“maa” and “maço” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#48,525
“maa” frequency rank: #25,742
“maço” frequency rank: 74267
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	maa	maço
Definition	chão, solo	instrumento de madeira encabado para uso de carpinteiros, escultores, etc.

Letter map: maa vs maço

Shared letters muted; letters that set maa and maço apart highlighted. Shared run: 2. maa runs 3 letters (CVV) against maço's 4 (CVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

3 ch

maa

4 ch

maço

Spelling & dictionary notes on maa vs maço

maa and maço are indexed as a confusable Portuguese 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 74267, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

maa is recorded at frequency rank #48,525, classified as anoun. maço is at rank #25,742, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈma.su/.

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 74267, this pair ranks #2,571 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of maa vs maço

Shared letters: am. Private to "maa": -. Private to "maço": oç.

"maa" · 3 letters · shape CVV · "maço" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "maa" and "maço" 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, "maa" or "maço"?

"maço" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #25,742 in our Portuguese list, against #48,525 for "maa". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pair "maa" vs "maço" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

Full dictionary entry for "maa" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "maço" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #2,571 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"maa" and "maço" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "maa vs malva". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #2,571 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.