mãevsmiauWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: mãe is a noun, miau is an intj, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#170
“mãe” frequency rank
#34,812
“miau” frequency rank
34982
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mãe miau
Definition mulher que tem ou teve filhos, naturais ou adotivos minhau

Where the eye mixes mãe and miau

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

3 ch
mãe
4 ch
miau

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: mãe is /ˈmɐ̃j̃/ while miau is /miˈaʊ̯/ ouvir^(fonte ?). Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs intj), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34982, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mãe is recorded at frequency rank #170, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈmɐ̃j̃/. miau is at rank #34,812, tagged as anintj, pronounced /miˈaʊ̯/ ouvir^(fonte ?).

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 34982, this pair ranks #32,158 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of mãe vs miau

Shared letters: m. Private to "mãe": . Private to "miau": aiu.

"mãe" · 3 letters · shape CVV  ·  "miau" · 4 letters · shape CVVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • miauimau · maiu · miua · mmiau

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "mãe" and "miau" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "mãe" is a noun and "miau" an intj, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "mãe" or "miau"?
"mãe" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #170 in our Portuguese list, against #34,812 for "miau". 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