Which to use
“machão” and “marcha” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #37,901
- “machão” frequency rank
- #4,003
- “marcha” frequency rank
- 41904
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | machão | marcha |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | mulher de aspecto e de modos varonis | ato de marchar |
Where the eye mixes machão and marcha
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. machão (CVCCVV) and marcha (CVCCCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Look-alike desk: machão vs marcha
A purely visual mix-up. machão (/mɐ.ˈʃɐ̃w̃/) and marcha (/ˈmaɾ.ʃɐ/) 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 4 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 41904, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
machão is recorded at frequency rank #37,901, classified as anoun, pronounced /mɐ.ˈʃɐ̃w̃/. marcha is at rank #4,003, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈmaɾ.ʃɐ/.
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 41904, this pair ranks #23,948 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of machão vs marcha
Shared letters: achm. Private to "machão": oã. Private to "marcha": r.
"machão" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV · "marcha" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- marcha ← amrcha · macrha · marcah · marccha · marchha · marhca · marrcha · mmarcha
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "machão" for "marcha" ever safe?
Frequency check: "machão" vs "marcha" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "machão" and "marcha" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "machão" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "marcha" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #23,948 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "machão" and "marcha" 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 #23,948 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.