maletavsmalhaWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#29,036
“maleta” frequency rank
#10,925
“malha” frequency rank
39961
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature maleta malha
Definition pequena mala estrutura geométrica formada por linhas regulares ou não

Letter map: maleta vs malha

Shared letters muted; letters that set maleta and malha apart highlighted. Shared run: 4. maleta runs 6 letters (CVCVCV) against malha's 5 (CVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
maleta
5 ch
malha

Spelling & dictionary notes on maleta vs malha

maleta and malha 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 39961, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

maleta is recorded at frequency rank #29,036, classified as anoun, pronounced /mɐ.ˈle.tɐ/. malha is at rank #10,925, tagged as anoun.

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 39961, this pair ranks #26,209 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of maleta vs malha

Shared letters: alm. Private to "maleta": et. Private to "malha": h.

"maleta" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "malha" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • maleta ← amleta · maelta · maleat · maletta · malleta · maltea · mlaeta · mmaleta
  • malha ← amlha · mahla · malah · malhha · mallha · mlaha · mmalha

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "maleta" and "malha" be used interchangeably?
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.
Frequency check: "maleta" vs "malha" - which ranks higher?
"malha" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,925 in our Portuguese list, against #29,036 for "maleta". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

You've compared "maleta" and "malha". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "maleta" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "malha" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #26,209 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "maleta" and "malha" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "maleta vs meleca". 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 #26,209 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