maavsmasWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: maa is a noun, mas is a conjunction, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“maa” is a noun and “mas” is a conjunction - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#48,525
“maa” frequency rank
#25
“mas” frequency rank
48550
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature maa mas
Definition chão, solo conjunção adversativa, indica clara oposição entre ideias

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set maa and mas apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

3 ch
maa
3 ch
mas

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: maa is anoun and masaconjunction. On the page they differ by a single letter - a in “maa” becomes s in “mas”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48550, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

maa is recorded at frequency rank #48,525, classified as anoun. mas is at rank #25, tagged as aconj, pronounced /ˈmɐʃ/.

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 48550, this pair ranks #16,614 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of maa vs mas

Shared letters: am. Private to "maa": -. Private to "mas": s.

"maa" · 3 letters · shape CVV  ·  "mas" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequency comparison

maa#48,525
mas#25

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "maa" and "mas" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "maa" is a noun and "mas" a conjunction, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "maa" or "mas"?
"mas" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #25 in our Portuguese list, against #48,525 for "maa". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering maa vs mas

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “maa”; for a conjunction, it's “mas”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “maa” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list