maçã vs Mai, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#7,309
“maçã” frequency rank: #9,369
“Mai” frequency rank: 16678
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	maçã	Mai
Definition	o fruto comestível da macieira	maio

Where the eye mixes maçã and Mai

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch

maçã

3 ch

Mai

Look-alike desk: maçã vs Mai

A purely visual mix-up. maçã (/mɐ.ˈsɐ̃/) and Mai (/maɪ̯/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 16678, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

maçã is recorded at frequency rank #7,309, classified as anoun, pronounced /mɐ.ˈsɐ̃/. Mai is at rank #9,369, tagged as anoun, pronounced /maɪ̯/.

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 16678, this pair ranks #54,792 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of maçã vs Mai

Shared letters: am. Private to "maçã": ãç. Private to "Mai": i.

"maçã" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "Mai" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "maçã" and "Mai" mean the same thing in a sentence?

No. They are said differently (/mɐ.ˈsɐ̃/ versus /maɪ̯/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.

Frequency check: "maçã" vs "Mai" - which ranks higher?

"maçã" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,309 in our Portuguese list, against #9,369 for "Mai". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

Full dictionary entry for "maçã" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "Mai" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #54,792 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"maçã" and "Mai" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "maa vs Mai". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #54,792 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.