maavsmerWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#48,525
“maa” frequency rank
#22,090
“mer” frequency rank
70615
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature maa mer
Definition chão, solo mar

Letter map: maa vs mer

Shared letters muted; letters that set maa and mer apart highlighted. Shared run: 1. maa (CVV) and mer (CVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

3 ch
maa
3 ch
mer

Corpus notes: maa and mer

maa and mer 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 share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 70615, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

maa is recorded at frequency rank #48,525, classified as anoun. mer is at rank #22,090, tagged as anoun, pronounced /mɛʁ/.

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 70615, this pair ranks #3,569 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of maa vs mer

Shared letters: m. Private to "maa": a. Private to "mer": er.

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

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "maa" and "mer" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Frequency check: "maa" vs "mer" - which ranks higher?
"mer" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #22,090 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.

What to do next

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "maa" and "mer".

  • Full dictionary entry for "maa" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "mer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #3,569 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "maa" and "mer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "maa vs malva". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #3,569 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list