Which to use
“mah” is an intj and “may” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #29,420
- “mah” frequency rank
- #5,226
- “may” frequency rank
- 34646
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | mah | may |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | usada para chamar ou deter alguém, ou para chamar sua atenção | obter permissão. Também utilizado quando se deseja fazer um pedido, de maneira cortês. |
Letter map: mah vs may
Shared letters muted; letters that set mah and may apart highlighted. Shared run: 2. mah (CVC) and may (CVV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Grammar separator: mah vs may
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: mah is anintj and mayaverb. On the page they differ by a single letter - h in “mah” becomes y in “may”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34646, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
mah is recorded at frequency rank #29,420, classified as anintj. may is at rank #5,226, tagged as averb, pronounced /meɪ/.
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 34646, this pair ranks #32,560 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of mah vs may
Shared letters: am. Private to "mah": h. Private to "may": y.
"mah" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "may" · 3 letters · shape CVV
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "mah" for "may" ever safe?
Frequency check: "mah" vs "may" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "mah" and "may".
- Full dictionary entry for "mah" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "may" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #32,560 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "mah" and "may" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "maa vs mah". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #32,560 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.