Which to use
“madre” and “mãe” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #9,219
- “madre” frequency rank
- #170
- “mãe” frequency rank
- 9389
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | madre | mãe |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | mãe | mulher que tem ou teve filhos, naturais ou adotivos |
Where the eye mixes madre and mãe
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: madre vs mãe
A purely visual mix-up. madre (/ˈma.dɾɨ/) and mãe (/ˈmɐ̃j̃/) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 9389, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
madre is recorded at frequency rank #9,219, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈma.dɾɨ/. mãe is at rank #170, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈmɐ̃j̃/.
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 9389, this pair ranks #64,062 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of madre vs mãe
Shared letters: em. Private to "madre": adr. Private to "mãe": ã.
"madre" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "mãe" · 3 letters · shape CVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- madre ← amdre · maddre · mader · madrre · marde · mdare · mmadre
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "madre" for "mãe" ever safe?
Which is more common, "madre" or "mãe"?
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 "madre" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "mãe" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #64,062 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "madre" and "mãe" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "maa vs mãe". 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 #64,062 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.