Which to use
“mal” is an adverb and “man” is a pronoun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #319
- “mal” frequency rank
- #2,736
- “man” frequency rank
- 3055
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | mal | man |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | de forma pouco satisfatória | se (atua como partícula de indeterminação do sujeito): |
Letter map: mal vs man
Shared letters muted; letters that set mal and man apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.
Grammar separator: mal vs man
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: mal is anadverb and manapronoun. On the page they differ by a single letter - l in “mal” becomes n in “man”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 3055, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
mal is recorded at frequency rank #319, classified as anadv, pronounced /ˈmaw/. man is at rank #2,736, tagged as apron.
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 3055, this pair ranks #72,165 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of mal vs man
Shared letters: am. Private to "mal": l. Private to "man": n.
"mal" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "man" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "mal" and "man" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "mal" or "man"?
What to do next
You've compared "mal" and "man". Here's where to go from here.
- Full dictionary entry for "mal" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "man" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #72,165 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "mal" and "man" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "maa vs man". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #72,165 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.