Which to use
“maço” is a noun and “malo” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #25,742
- “maço” frequency rank
- #41,118
- “malo” frequency rank
- 66860
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | maço | malo |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | instrumento de madeira encabado para uso de carpinteiros, escultores, etc. | mau, malévolo: |
Letter map: maço vs malo
Shared letters muted; letters that set maço and malo apart highlighted. Shared run: 3. maço and malo follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Grammar separator: maço vs malo
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: maço is anoun and maloanadjective. On the page they differ by a single letter - ç in “maço” becomes l in “malo”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 66860, 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/. malo is at rank #41,118, 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 66860, this pair ranks #4,837 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of maço vs malo
Shared letters: amo. Private to "maço": ç. Private to "malo": l.
"maço" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "malo" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- malo ← amlo · mallo · maol · mlao · mmalo
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "maço" for "malo" ever safe?
Which is more common, "maço" or "malo"?
Useful next steps
You've compared "maço" and "malo". Here's where to go from here.
- Full dictionary entry for "maço" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "malo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #4,837 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "maço" and "malo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "maa vs malo". 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 #4,837 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.