Which to use
“machado” and “machão” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #2,891
- “machado” frequency rank
- #37,901
- “machão” frequency rank
- 40792
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | machado | machão |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | ferramenta cortante composta de um cabo (usualmente de madeira) e uma cabeça (usualmente de ferro) com gumes de um ou dois lados | mulher de aspecto e de modos varonis |
Where the eye mixes machado and machão
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. machado runs 7 letters (CVCCVCV) against machão's 6 (CVCCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between machado and machão
A purely visual mix-up. machado (/mɐ.ˈʃa.du/) and machão (/mɐ.ˈʃɐ̃w̃/) 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 40792, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
machado is recorded at frequency rank #2,891, classified as anoun, pronounced /mɐ.ˈʃa.du/. machão is at rank #37,901, tagged as anoun, pronounced /mɐ.ˈʃɐ̃w̃/.
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 40792, this pair ranks #25,252 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of machado vs machão
Shared letters: achmo. Private to "machado": d. Private to "machão": ã.
"machado" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV · "machão" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- machado ← amchado · macahdo · macchado · machaddo · machaod · machdao · machhado · mahcado
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "machado" and "machão" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "machado" vs "machão" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "machado" and "machão" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "machado" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "machão" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #25,252 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "machado" and "machão" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "machão vs malho". 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 #25,252 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.