maciovsmeioWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#14,891
“macio” frequency rank
#190
“meio” frequency rank
15081
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature macio meio
Definition que é suave aos sentidos. aveludado designativo de metade

Where the eye mixes macio and meio

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
macio
4 ch
meio

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. macio (/mɐ.ˈsi.u/) and meio (/ˈmɐj.u/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 15081, 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/. meio is at rank #190, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈmɐj.u/.

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 15081, this pair ranks #56,846 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of macio vs meio

Shared letters: imo. Private to "macio": ac. Private to "meio": e.

"macio" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV  ·  "meio" · 4 letters · shape CVVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • macioamcio · maccio · macoi · maico · mcaio · mmacio
  • meioemio · meoi · mieo · mmeio

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "macio" and "meio" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/mɐ.ˈsi.u/ versus /ˈmɐj.u/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "macio" or "meio"?
"meio" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #190 in our Portuguese list, against #14,891 for "macio". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

You've compared "macio" and "meio". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "macio" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "meio" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #56,846 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "macio" and "meio" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "macio vs matiz". 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

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list