Mai vs mamã, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“Mai” and “mamã” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#9,369
“Mai” frequency rank: #29,037
“mamã” frequency rank: 38406
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	Mai	mamã
Definition	maio	mãe

Where the eye mixes Mai and mamã

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. Mai runs 3 letters (CVV) against mamã's 4 (CVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

3 ch

Mai

4 ch

mamã

Look-alike desk: Mai vs mamã

A purely visual mix-up. Mai (/maɪ̯/) and mamã (/mɜˈmɜ̃/) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 38406, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Mai is recorded at frequency rank #9,369, classified as anoun, pronounced /maɪ̯/. mamã is at rank #29,037, tagged as anoun, pronounced /mɜˈmɜ̃/.

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 38406, this pair ranks #28,061 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Mai vs mamã

Shared letters: am. Private to "Mai": i. Private to "mamã": ã.

"Mai" · 3 letters · shape CVV · "mamã" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Mai" and "mamã" be used interchangeably?

No. They are said differently (/maɪ̯/ versus /mɜˈmɜ̃/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.

Which is more common, "Mai" or "mamã"?

"Mai" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,369 in our Portuguese list, against #29,037 for "mamã". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

Full dictionary entry for "Mai" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "mamã" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #28,061 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"Mai" and "mamã" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "maa vs mamã". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #28,061 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.