Which to use
“maio” and “maison” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #523
- “maio” frequency rank
- #22,380
- “maison” frequency rank
- 22903
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | maio | maison |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | quinto mês do ano civil, formado por 31 dias | casa |
Where the eye mixes maio and maison
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. maio runs 4 letters (CVVV) against maison's 6 (CVVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between maio and maison
A purely visual mix-up. maio (/ˈmaj.ju/) and maison (/mɛ.zɔ̃/~/me.zɔ̃/) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 22903, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
maio is recorded at frequency rank #523, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈmaj.ju/. maison is at rank #22,380, tagged as anoun, pronounced /mɛ.zɔ̃/~/me.zɔ̃/.
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 22903, this pair ranks #47,027 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of maio vs maison
Shared letters: aimo. Private to "maio": -. Private to "maison": ns.
"maio" · 4 letters · shape CVVV · "maison" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "maio" and "maison" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "maio" or "maison"?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "maio" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "maison" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #47,027 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "maio" and "maison" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "maa vs maio". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #47,027 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.