Which to use
“maio” and “mat” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #523
- “maio” frequency rank
- #21,805
- “mat” frequency rank
- 22328
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | maio | mat |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | quinto mês do ano civil, formado por 31 dias | casamento |
Where the eye mixes maio and mat
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses maio with mat
A purely visual mix-up. maio (/ˈmaj.ju/) and mat (/mat/) 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 22328, 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/. mat is at rank #21,805, tagged as anoun, pronounced /mat/.
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 22328, this pair ranks #47,746 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of maio vs mat
Shared letters: am. Private to "maio": io. Private to "mat": t.
"maio" · 4 letters · shape CVVV · "mat" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- maio ← amio · maoi · miao · mmaio
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "maio" for "mat" ever safe?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "maio" or "mat" show up more?
After this comparison
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 "mat" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #47,746 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "maio" and "mat" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "maa vs mat". 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 #47,746 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.