machovsmahConfusable pair

Quick tell: macho is a adjective, mah is an intj, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“macho” is an adjective and “mah” is an intj - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#5,113
“macho” frequency rank
#29,420
“mah” frequency rank
34533
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature macho mah
Definition pertencente ao gênero masculino usada para chamar ou deter alguém, ou para chamar sua atenção

Letter map: macho vs mah

Shared letters muted; letters that set macho and mah apart highlighted. Shared run: 3.

5 ch
macho
3 ch
mah

Part-of-speech tell for macho / mah

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: macho is anadjective and mahanintj. On the page they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34533, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

macho is recorded at frequency rank #5,113, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈma.ʃu/. mah is at rank #29,420, tagged as anintj.

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 34533, this pair ranks #32,705 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of macho vs mah

Shared letters: ahm. Private to "macho": co. Private to "mah": -.

"macho" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "mah" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • machoamcho · maccho · machho · macoh · mahco · mcaho · mmacho

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "macho" and "mah" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "macho" is an adjective and "mah" an intj, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "macho" or "mah"?
"macho" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,113 in our Portuguese list, against #29,420 for "mah". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pair "macho" vs "mah" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "macho" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "mah" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #32,705 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "macho" and "mah" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "maa vs mah". 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 #32,705 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