Which to use
“maço” and “marco” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #25,742
- “maço” frequency rank
- #1,754
- “marco” frequency rank
- 27496
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | maço | marco |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | instrumento de madeira encabado para uso de carpinteiros, escultores, etc. | sinal de demarcação que se põe nos limites territoriais |
Where the eye mixes maço and marco
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. maço runs 4 letters (CVCV) against marco's 5 (CVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses maço with marco
A purely visual mix-up. maço (/ˈma.su/) and marco (/ˈmaɾ.ku/) 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 27496, 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/. marco is at rank #1,754, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈmaɾ.ku/.
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 27496, this pair ranks #41,456 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of maço vs marco
Shared letters: amo. Private to "maço": ç. Private to "marco": cr.
"maço" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "marco" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- marco ← amrco · macro · marcco · maroc · marrco · mmarco · mraco
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "maço" for "marco" ever safe?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "maço" or "marco" show up more?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "maço" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "marco" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #41,456 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "maço" and "marco" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "maa vs maço". 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 #41,456 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.