MaivsmoTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#9,369
“Mai” frequency rank
#4,745
“mo” frequency rank
14114
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Mai mo
Definition maio combinação de me (pronome pessoal oblíquo átono) e o (pronome pessoal oblíquo átono, pronome demonstrativo masculino ou pronome demonstrativo neutro)

Where the eye mixes Mai and mo

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

3 ch
Mai
2 ch
mo

Visual trap between Mai and mo

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Mai is /maɪ̯/ while mo is /mo/. 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 pronoun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14114, 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/. mo is at rank #4,745, tagged as apron, pronounced /mo/.

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 14114, this pair ranks #58,061 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Mai vs mo

Shared letters: m. Private to "Mai": ai. Private to "mo": o.

"Mai" · 3 letters · shape CVV  ·  "mo" · 2 letters · shape CV

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Mai" and "mo" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Mai" is a noun and "mo" a pronoun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "Mai" vs "mo" - which ranks higher?
"mo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,745 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.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "Mai" and "mo" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Mai" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "mo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #58,061 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Mai" and "mo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "maa vs Mai". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #58,061 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