Which to use
“maçã” is a noun and “mais” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #7,309
- “maçã” frequency rank
- #23
- “mais” frequency rank
- 7332
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | maçã | mais |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | o fruto comestível da macieira | avançadamente (designa aumento) |
Where the spellings diverge
Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set maçã and mais apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
maçã and mais form a confusable pair in the Portuguese index, two distinct headwords that are easily confused because they look alike, sound alike, or both. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions - close enough that the eye skips over the difference, far enough that meaning fully diverges. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 7332, 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/. mais is at rank #23, tagged as anadv, pronounced /mäjʃ/.
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 7332, this pair ranks #66,820 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Frequency comparison
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "maçã" and "mais" be used interchangeably?
Remembering maçã vs mais
The fastest way to pick the right one every time.
- Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “maçã”; for an adverb, it's “mais”.
- See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “maçã” entry
- Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable