mãevsmanWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: mãe is a noun, man is a pronoun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“mãe” is a noun and “man” is a pronoun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#170
“mãe” frequency rank
#2,736
“man” frequency rank
2906
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mãe man
Definition mulher que tem ou teve filhos, naturais ou adotivos se (atua como partícula de indeterminação do sujeito):

Letter map: mãe vs man

Shared letters muted; letters that set mãe and man apart highlighted. Shared run: 1.

3 ch
mãe
3 ch
man

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: mãe is anoun and manapronoun. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 2906, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mãe is recorded at frequency rank #170, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈmɐ̃j̃/. man is at rank #2,736, tagged as apron.

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 2906, this pair ranks #72,323 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of mãe vs man

Shared letters: m. Private to "mãe": . Private to "man": an.

"mãe" · 3 letters · shape CVV  ·  "man" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "mãe" and "man" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "mãe" is a noun and "man" a pronoun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "mãe" or "man"?
"mãe" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #170 in our Portuguese list, against #2,736 for "man". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list