machovsmicroWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#5,113
“macho” frequency rank
#4,247
“micro” frequency rank
9360
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature macho micro
Definition pertencente ao gênero masculino muito pequeno

Letter map: macho vs micro

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

5 ch
macho
5 ch
micro

Pair insight - macho / micro

macho and micro 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 9360, 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/. micro is at rank #4,247, tagged as anadj.

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 9360, this pair ranks #64,098 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of macho vs micro

Shared letters: cmo. Private to "macho": ah. Private to "micro": ir.

"macho" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "micro" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • machoamcho · maccho · machho · macoh · mahco · mcaho · mmacho
  • microimcro · mciro · miccro · micor · micrro · mirco · mmicro

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "macho" and "micro" mean the same thing in a sentence?
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, "macho" or "micro"?
"micro" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,247 in our Portuguese list, against #5,113 for "macho". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pair "macho" vs "micro" 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 "micro" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #64,098 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "macho" and "micro" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "micro vs mirra". 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 #64,098 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