Which to use
“maço” is a noun and “meio” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #25,742
- “maço” frequency rank
- #190
- “meio” frequency rank
- 25932
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | maço | meio |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | instrumento de madeira encabado para uso de carpinteiros, escultores, etc. | designativo de metade |
Where the eye mixes maço and meio
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between maço and meio
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: maço is /ˈma.su/ while meio is /ˈmɐj.u/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 25932, 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/. 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 25932, this pair ranks #43,290 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of maço vs meio
Shared letters: mo. Private to "maço": aç. Private to "meio": ei.
"maço" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "meio" · 4 letters · shape CVVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- meio ← emio · meoi · mieo · mmeio
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "maço" and "meio" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "maço" vs "meio" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "maço" and "meio" 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 "meio" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #43,290 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "maço" and "meio" 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 #43,290 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.