Which to use
“maçã” and “meia” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #7,309
- “maçã” frequency rank
- #1,054
- “meia” frequency rank
- 8363
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | maçã | meia |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | o fruto comestível da macieira | peça de vestuário de tecido de malha que se calça sobre a pele até meio da perna |
Where the eye mixes maçã and meia
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between maçã and meia
A purely visual mix-up. maçã (/mɐ.ˈsɐ̃/) and meia (/ˈmɐj.ɐ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 8363, 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/. meia is at rank #1,054, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈmɐj.ɐ/.
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 8363, this pair ranks #65,440 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of maçã vs meia
Shared letters: am. Private to "maçã": ãç. Private to "meia": ei.
"maçã" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "meia" · 4 letters · shape CVVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- meia ← emia · meai · miea · mmeia
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "maçã" and "meia" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "maçã" vs "meia" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "maçã" and "meia" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "maçã" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "meia" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #65,440 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "maçã" and "meia" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "maa vs maçã". 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 #65,440 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.