macacavsmacacãoConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#28,268
“macaca” frequency rank
#23,720
“macacão” frequency rank
51988
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature macaca macacão
Definition jogo infantil sobre uma figura geométrica riscada no chão, com quadrinhos sobre os que se avança tirando uma pedra macaco grande

Letter map: macaca vs macacão

Shared letters muted; letters that set macaca and macacão apart highlighted. Shared run: 5.

6 ch
macaca
7 ch
macacão

Corpus notes: macaca and macacão

macaca and macacão are indexed as a confusable Portuguese pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51988, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

macaca is recorded at frequency rank #28,268, classified as anoun. macacão is at rank #23,720, tagged as anoun, pronounced /mɐ.kɐ.ˈkɐ̃w̃/.

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 51988, this pair ranks #13,130 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of macaca vs macacão

Shared letters: acm. Private to "macaca": -. Private to "macacão": .

"macaca" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "macacão" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • macacaamcaca · maacca · macaac · macacca · maccaa · maccaca · mcaaca · mmacaca

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "macaca" and "macacão" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Frequency check: "macaca" vs "macacão" - which ranks higher?
"macacão" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #23,720 in our Portuguese list, against #28,268 for "macaca". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pair "macaca" vs "macacão" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "macaca" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "macacão" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #13,130 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "macaca" and "macacão" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "macaca vs marajá". 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 #13,130 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list