madeira vs mamadeira, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“madeira” is an adjective and “mamadeira” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#1,577
“madeira” frequency rank: #30,245
“mamadeira” frequency rank: 31822
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	madeira	mamadeira
Definition	pessoa sem ambição, devagar, sem interesse na vida, por vontade ou por doença	frasco com uma tetina/bico de borracha, utilizado para dar leite (ou outros líquidos) a crianças

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set madeira and mamadeira apart are highlighted. They share 7 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch

madeira

9 ch

mamadeira

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: madeira is /mɐ.ˈdɐj.ɾɐ/ while mamadeira is /mɐ.mɐ.ˈdej.ɾɐ/, /mɐ.mɐ.ˈde.ɾɐ/, /mã.mɐ.ˈdej.ɾɐ/, /mã.mɐ.ˈde.ɾɐ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “madeira” sits inside “mamadeira”, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 31822, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

madeira is recorded at frequency rank #1,577, classified as anadj, pronounced /mɐ.ˈdɐj.ɾɐ/. mamadeira is at rank #30,245, tagged as anoun, pronounced /mɐ.mɐ.ˈdej.ɾɐ/, /mɐ.mɐ.ˈde.ɾɐ/, /mã.mɐ.ˈdej.ɾɐ/, /mã.mɐ.ˈde.ɾɐ/.

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 31822, this pair ranks #36,146 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of madeira vs mamadeira

Shared letters: adeimr. Private to "madeira": -. Private to "mamadeira": -.

"madeira" · 7 letters · shape CVCVVCV · "mamadeira" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

madeira ← amdeira · maddeira · madeiar · madeirra · maderia · madiera · maedira · mdaeira
mamadeira ← ammadeira · maamdeira · mamaddeira · mamadeiar · mamadeirra · mamaderia · mamadiera · mamaedira

Frequency comparison

madeira#1,577

mamadeira#30,245

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "madeira" and "mamadeira" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "madeira" is an adjective and "mamadeira" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "madeira" or "mamadeira"?

"madeira" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,577 in our Portuguese list, against #30,245 for "mamadeira". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering madeira vs mamadeira

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “madeira”; for a noun, it's “mamadeira”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “madeira” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable