Which to use
“maa” is a noun and “mau” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #48,525
- “maa” frequency rank
- #1,936
- “mau” frequency rank
- 50461
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | maa | mau |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | chão, solo | que não é de boa qualidade, ruim |
Letter map: maa vs mau
Shared letters muted; letters that set maa and mau apart highlighted. Shared run: 2. maa and mau follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Role in the sentence - maa and mau
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: maa is anoun and mauanadjective. On the page they differ by a single letter - a in “maa” becomes u in “mau”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50461, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
maa is recorded at frequency rank #48,525, classified as anoun. mau is at rank #1,936, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈmaw/.
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 50461, this pair ranks #14,502 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of maa vs mau
Shared letters: am. Private to "maa": -. Private to "mau": u.
"maa" · 3 letters · shape CVV · "mau" · 3 letters · shape CVV
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "maa" and "mau" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "maa" vs "mau" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
You've compared "maa" and "mau". Here's where to go from here.
- Full dictionary entry for "maa" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "mau" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #14,502 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "maa" and "mau" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "maa vs malva". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #14,502 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.