makevsmatemWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“make” and “matem” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#5,223
“make” frequency rank
#18,638
“matem” frequency rank
23861
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature make matem
Definition fazer terceira pessoa do plural do presente do modo subjuntivo do verbo matar

Where the eye mixes make and matem

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

4 ch
make
5 ch
matem

Look-alike desk: make vs matem

A purely visual mix-up. make (/ˈmeɪk/) and matem (/ˈma.tẽɲ/) 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 23861, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

make is recorded at frequency rank #5,223, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈmeɪk/. matem is at rank #18,638, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈma.tẽɲ/.

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 23861, this pair ranks #45,880 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of make vs matem

Shared letters: aem. Private to "make": k. Private to "matem": t.

"make" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "matem" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • makeamke · maek · makke · mkae · mmake
  • matemamtem · maetm · matemm · matme · mattem · mmatem · mtaem

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "make" for "matem" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ˈmeɪk/ versus /ˈma.tẽɲ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "make" or "matem"?
"make" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,223 in our Portuguese list, against #18,638 for "matem". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "make" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "matem" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #45,880 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "make" and "matem" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "matem vs matiz". 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 #45,880 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