mãevsmeWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#170
“mãe” frequency rank
#28
“me” frequency rank
198
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mãe me
Definition mulher que tem ou teve filhos, naturais ou adotivos pronome pessoal oblíquo átono da primeira pessoa do singular, usado em complementos direto do verbo:

Letter map: mãe vs me

Shared letters muted; letters that set mãe and me apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.

3 ch
mãe
2 ch
me

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: mãe is anoun and meapronoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 198, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mãe is recorded at frequency rank #170, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈmɐ̃j̃/. me is at rank #28, 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 198, this pair ranks #75,432 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of mãe vs me

Shared letters: em. Private to "mãe": ã. Private to "me": -.

"mãe" · 3 letters · shape CVV  ·  "me" · 2 letters · shape CV

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "mãe" and "me" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "mãe" is a noun and "me" a pronoun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "mãe" or "me"?
"me" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #28 in our Portuguese list, against #170 for "mãe". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list