maciço vs maço, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“maciço” is an adjective and “maço” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#19,489
“maciço” frequency rank: #25,742
“maço” frequency rank: 45231
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	maciço	maço
Definition	compacto; sem vazios internos	instrumento de madeira encabado para uso de carpinteiros, escultores, etc.

Letter map: maciço vs maço

Shared letters muted; letters that set maciço and maço apart highlighted. Shared run: 4.

6 ch

maciço

4 ch

maço

Part-of-speech tell for maciço / maço

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: maciço is anadjective and maçoanoun. On the page they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45231, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

maciço is recorded at frequency rank #19,489, classified as anadj. maço is at rank #25,742, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈma.su/.

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 45231, this pair ranks #20,169 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of maciço vs maço

Shared letters: amoç. Private to "maciço": ci. Private to "maço": -.

"maciço" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV · "maço" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "maciço" and "maço" mean the same thing in a sentence?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "maciço" is an adjective and "maço" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "maciço" or "maço"?

"maciço" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #19,489 in our Portuguese list, against #25,742 for "maço". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

You've compared "maciço" and "maço". Here's where to go from here.

Full dictionary entry for "maciço" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "maço" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #20,169 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"maciço" and "maço" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "maa vs maço". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #20,169 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.