Which to use
“macio” is an adjective and “malho” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #14,891
- “macio” frequency rank
- #44,473
- “malho” frequency rank
- 59364
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | macio | malho |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | que é suave aos sentidos. aveludado | ferramenta com cabo de madeira e na extremidade uma peça de metal com uma superfície lisa, usada para bater pregos; martelo |
Letter map: macio vs malho
Shared letters muted; letters that set macio and malho apart highlighted. Shared run: 3. macio (CVCVV) and malho (CVCCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Part-of-speech tell for macio / malho
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: macio is anadjective and malhoanoun. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 59364, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
macio is recorded at frequency rank #14,891, classified as anadj, pronounced /mɐ.ˈsi.u/. malho is at rank #44,473, 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 59364, this pair ranks #8,220 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of macio vs malho
Shared letters: amo. Private to "macio": ci. Private to "malho": hl.
"macio" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV · "malho" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "macio" and "malho" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "macio" or "malho" show up more?
After this comparison
Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "macio" and "malho".
- Full dictionary entry for "macio" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "malho" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #8,220 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "macio" and "malho" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "malho vs malva". 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 #8,220 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.