MaivsmanConfusable pair

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

Which to use

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

#9,369
“Mai” frequency rank
#2,736
“man” frequency rank
12105
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Mai man
Definition maio se (atua como partícula de indeterminação do sujeito):

Letter map: Mai vs man

Shared letters muted; letters that set Mai and man apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.

3 ch
Mai
3 ch
man

Role in the sentence - Mai and man

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: Mai is anoun and manapronoun. On the page they differ by a single letter - i in “Mai” becomes n in “man”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12105, 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/. man is at rank #2,736, 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 12105, this pair ranks #60,590 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Mai vs man

Shared letters: am. Private to "Mai": i. Private to "man": n.

"Mai" · 3 letters · shape CVV  ·  "man" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Mai" and "man" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Mai" is a noun and "man" a pronoun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "Mai" vs "man" - which ranks higher?
"man" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,736 in our Portuguese list, against #9,369 for "Mai". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "Mai" and "man".

  • Full dictionary entry for "Mai" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "man" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #60,590 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Mai" and "man" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "maa vs Mai". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #60,590 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list