madrevsmalteWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“madre” and “malte” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#9,219
“madre” frequency rank
#30,244
“malte” frequency rank
39463
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature madre malte
Definition mãe produto que resulta da germinação artificial e posterior dessecação de cereais

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set madre and malte apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
madre
5 ch
malte

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. madre (/ˈma.dɾɨ/) and malte (/ˈmaɫ.tɨ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39463, 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/. malte is at rank #30,244, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈmaɫ.tɨ/.

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 39463, this pair ranks #26,774 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of madre vs malte

Shared letters: aem. Private to "madre": dr. Private to "malte": lt.

"madre" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "malte" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • madreamdre · maddre · mader · madrre · marde · mdare · mmadre
  • malteamlte · malet · mallte · maltte · matle · mlate · mmalte

Frequency comparison

madre#9,219
malte#30,244

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "madre" and "malte" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈma.dɾɨ/ versus /ˈmaɫ.tɨ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "madre" or "malte"?
"madre" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,219 in our Portuguese list, against #30,244 for "malte". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering madre vs malte

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “madre” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list