Which to use
“maçã” and “march” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #7,309
- “maçã” frequency rank
- #13,556
- “march” frequency rank
- 20865
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | maçã | march |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | o fruto comestível da macieira | marcha |
Where the eye mixes maçã and march
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses maçã with march
A purely visual mix-up. maçã (/mɐ.ˈsɐ̃/) and march (/ˈmɑːɹtʃ/) 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 20865, 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/. march is at rank #13,556, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈmɑːɹtʃ/.
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 20865, this pair ranks #49,548 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of maçã vs march
Shared letters: am. Private to "maçã": ãç. Private to "march": chr.
"maçã" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "march" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- march ← amrch · macrh · marcch · marchh · marhc · marrch · mmarch · mrach
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "maçã" for "march" ever safe?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "maçã" or "march" show up more?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "maçã" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "march" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #49,548 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "maçã" and "march" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "march vs marzo". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #49,548 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.