malaiovsmalvadoTell them apart

Which to use

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

#29,421
“malaio” frequency rank
#23,040
“malvado” frequency rank
52461
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature malaio malvado
Definition da Malásia que tem índole perversa ou que é praticado com desrespeito, violência ou crueldade

Letter map: malaio vs malvado

Shared letters muted; letters that set malaio and malvado apart highlighted. Shared run: 5. malaio runs 6 letters (CVCVVV) against malvado's 7 (CVCCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
malaio
7 ch
malvado

Corpus notes: malaio and malvado

malaio and malvado are indexed as a confusable Portuguese pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 52461, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

malaio is recorded at frequency rank #29,421, classified as anadj, pronounced /ma.ˈlaj.ju/. malvado is at rank #23,040, 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 52461, this pair ranks #12,740 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of malaio vs malvado

Shared letters: almo. Private to "malaio": i. Private to "malvado": dv.

"malaio" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVV  ·  "malvado" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • malaio ← amlaio · maalio · malaoi · maliao · mallaio · mlaaio · mmalaio
  • malvado ← amlvado · malavdo · mallvado · malvaddo · malvaod · malvdao · malvvado · mavlado

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "malaio" for "malvado" ever safe?
No. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "malaio" or "malvado" show up more?
"malvado" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #23,040 in our Portuguese list, against #29,421 for "malaio". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pair "malaio" vs "malvado" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "malaio" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "malvado" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #12,740 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "malaio" and "malvado" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "malaio vs melado". 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 #12,740 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