Which to use
“mãe” and “mão” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #170
- “mãe” frequency rank
- #451
- “mão” frequency rank
- 621
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | mãe | mão |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | mulher que tem ou teve filhos, naturais ou adotivos | extremidade do membro anterior dos primatas, capaz de manipular objetos; parte do corpo semelhante ou análoga em outros animais |
Where the eye mixes mãe and mão
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
A purely visual mix-up. mãe (/ˈmɐ̃j̃/) and mão (/mãw/) 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 a single letter - e in “mãe” becomes o in “mão”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 621, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
mãe is recorded at frequency rank #170, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈmɐ̃j̃/. mão is at rank #451, tagged as anoun, pronounced /mãw/.
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 621, this pair ranks #75,050 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of mãe vs mão
Shared letters: mã. Private to "mãe": e. Private to "mão": o.
"mãe" · 3 letters · shape CVV · "mão" · 3 letters · shape CVV