machão vs milhão, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#37,901
“machão” frequency rank: #1,895
“milhão” frequency rank: 39796
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	machão	milhão
Definition	mulher de aspecto e de modos varonis	grande quantidade incontável:

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set machão and milhão apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch

machão

6 ch

milhão

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

machão and milhão 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 share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39796, 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/. milhão is at rank #1,895, tagged as anoun.

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 39796, this pair ranks #26,409 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of machão vs milhão

Shared letters: hmoã. Private to "machão": ac. Private to "milhão": il.

"machão" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV · "milhão" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV

Frequency comparison

machão#37,901

milhão#1,895

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "machão" and "milhão" be used interchangeably?

No. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.

Which is more common, "machão" or "milhão"?

"milhão" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,895 in our Portuguese list, against #37,901 for "machão". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering machão vs milhão

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “machão” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable