Which to use
“mais” is an adverb and “mau” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #23
- “mais” frequency rank
- #1,936
- “mau” frequency rank
- 1959
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | mais | mau |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | avançadamente (designa aumento) | que não é de boa qualidade, ruim |
Where the eye mixes mais and mau
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: mais is /mäjʃ/ while mau is /ˈmaw/. 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 (adverb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 1959, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
mais is recorded at frequency rank #23, classified as anadv, pronounced /mäjʃ/. mau is at rank #1,936, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈmaw/.
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 1959, this pair ranks #73,564 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of mais vs mau
Shared letters: am. Private to "mais": is. Private to "mau": u.
"mais" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "mau" · 3 letters · shape CVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- mais ← amis · maiss · masi · mias · mmais