Which to use
“machão” and “mecha” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #37,901
- “machão” frequency rank
- #24,075
- “mecha” frequency rank
- 61976
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | machão | mecha |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | mulher de aspecto e de modos varonis | porção de cabelos ou pelos |
Where the eye mixes machão and mecha
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. machão runs 6 letters (CVCCVV) against mecha's 5 (CVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: machão vs mecha
A purely visual mix-up. machão (/mɐ.ˈʃɐ̃w̃/) and mecha (/ˈmɛ.ʃɐ/) 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 61976, 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/. mecha is at rank #24,075, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈmɛ.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 61976, this pair ranks #6,886 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of machão vs mecha
Shared letters: achm. Private to "machão": oã. Private to "mecha": e.
"machão" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV · "mecha" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- mecha ← emcha · mceha · mecah · meccha · mechha · mehca · mmecha
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "machão" and "mecha" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "machão" or "mecha"?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "machão" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "mecha" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #6,886 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "machão" and "mecha" 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 #6,886 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.