Which to use
“macho” is an adjective and “mano” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #5,113
- “macho” frequency rank
- #3,493
- “mano” frequency rank
- 8606
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | macho | mano |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | pertencente ao gênero masculino | irmão (todas as acepções, exceto Religião) |
Where the eye mixes macho and mano
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: macho vs mano
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: macho is /ˈma.ʃu/ while mano is /ˈmã.nu/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 8606, 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/. mano is at rank #3,493, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈmã.nu/.
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 8606, this pair ranks #65,111 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of macho vs mano
Shared letters: amo. Private to "macho": ch. Private to "mano": n.
"macho" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "mano" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "macho" and "mano" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "macho" or "mano" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "macho" and "mano" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "macho" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "mano" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #65,111 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "macho" and "mano" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "maa vs mano". 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 #65,111 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.