Which to use
“maio” is a noun and “malo” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #523
- “maio” frequency rank
- #41,118
- “malo” frequency rank
- 41641
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | maio | malo |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | quinto mês do ano civil, formado por 31 dias | mau, malévolo: |
Letter map: maio vs malo
Shared letters muted; letters that set maio and malo apart highlighted. Shared run: 3. maio (CVVV) and malo (CVCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Grammar separator: maio vs malo
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: maio is anoun and maloanadjective. On the page they differ by a single letter - i in “maio” becomes l in “malo”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 41641, 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/. malo is at rank #41,118, tagged as anadj.
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 41641, this pair ranks #24,253 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of maio vs malo
Shared letters: amo. Private to "maio": i. Private to "malo": l.
"maio" · 4 letters · shape CVVV · "malo" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "maio" and "malo" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "maio" or "malo"?
After this comparison
You've compared "maio" and "malo". Here's where to go from here.
- Full dictionary entry for "maio" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "malo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #24,253 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "maio" and "malo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "maa vs malo". 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 #24,253 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.