maço vs Mai, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#25,742
“maço” frequency rank: #9,369
“Mai” frequency rank: 35111
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	maço	Mai
Definition	instrumento de madeira encabado para uso de carpinteiros, escultores, etc.	maio

Where the eye mixes maço and Mai

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch

maço

3 ch

Mai

Why the eye confuses maço with Mai

A purely visual mix-up. maço (/ˈma.su/) and Mai (/maɪ̯/) 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 35111, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

maço is recorded at frequency rank #25,742, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈma.su/. Mai is at rank #9,369, tagged as anoun, pronounced /maɪ̯/.

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 35111, this pair ranks #31,990 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of maço vs Mai

Shared letters: am. Private to "maço": oç. Private to "Mai": i.

"maço" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "Mai" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Frequently Asked Questions

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

No. They are said differently (/ˈma.su/ versus /maɪ̯/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.

Frequency check: "maço" vs "Mai" - which ranks higher?

"Mai" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,369 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.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "maço" and "Mai" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

Full dictionary entry for "maço" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "Mai" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #31,990 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"maço" and "Mai" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "maa vs maço". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #31,990 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.