maçã vs mat, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#7,309
“maçã” frequency rank: #21,805
“mat” frequency rank: 29114
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	maçã	mat
Definition	o fruto comestível da macieira	casamento

Where the eye mixes maçã and mat

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

4 ch

maçã

3 ch

mat

Visual trap between maçã and mat

A purely visual mix-up. maçã (/mɐ.ˈsɐ̃/) and mat (/mat/) 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 29114, 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/. mat is at rank #21,805, tagged as anoun, pronounced /mat/.

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 29114, this pair ranks #39,590 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of maçã vs mat

Shared letters: am. Private to "maçã": ãç. Private to "mat": t.

"maçã" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "mat" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

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

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

In ordinary Portuguese text, does "maçã" or "mat" show up more?

"maçã" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,309 in our Portuguese list, against #21,805 for "mat". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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 "mat" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #39,590 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"maçã" and "mat" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "maa vs mat". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #39,590 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.