macacavsMacauWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#28,268
“macaca” frequency rank
#7,178
“Macau” frequency rank
35446
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature macaca Macau
Definition jogo infantil sobre uma figura geométrica riscada no chão, com quadrinhos sobre os que se avança tirando uma pedra região administrativa especial da China, administrada por Portugal até 1999, onde o português é uma das línguas oficiais

Letter map: macaca vs Macau

Shared letters muted; letters that set macaca and Macau apart highlighted. Shared run: 4.

6 ch
macaca
5 ch
Macau

Spelling & dictionary notes on macaca vs Macau

macaca and Macau 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 35446, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

macaca is recorded at frequency rank #28,268, classified as anoun. Macau is at rank #7,178, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ma.ˈkaw/.

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 35446, this pair ranks #31,604 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of macaca vs Macau

Shared letters: acm. Private to "macaca": -. Private to "Macau": u.

"macaca" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "Macau" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • macacaamcaca · maacca · macaac · macacca · maccaa · maccaca · mcaaca · mmacaca
  • Macauamcau · maacu · maccau · macua · mcaau · mmacau

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "macaca" and "Macau" 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 "Macau" - which ranks higher?
"Macau" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,178 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.

After this comparison

Pair "macaca" vs "Macau" 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 "Macau" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #31,604 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "macaca" and "Macau" 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 #31,604 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