maletavsmalteWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#29,036
“maleta” frequency rank
#30,244
“malte” frequency rank
59280
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature maleta malte
Definition pequena mala produto que resulta da germinação artificial e posterior dessecação de cereais

Where the eye mixes maleta and malte

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
maleta
5 ch
malte

Visual trap between maleta and malte

A purely visual mix-up. maleta (/mɐ.ˈle.tɐ/) and malte (/ˈmaɫ.tɨ/) 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 59280, 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/. malte is at rank #30,244, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈmaɫ.tɨ/.

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 59280, this pair ranks #8,264 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of maleta vs malte

Shared letters: aelmt. Private to "maleta": -. Private to "malte": -.

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

Known mistypes of this pair

  • maletaamleta · maelta · maleat · maletta · malleta · maltea · mlaeta · mmaleta
  • malteamlte · malet · mallte · maltte · matle · mlate · mmalte

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "maleta" and "malte" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/mɐ.ˈle.tɐ/ versus /ˈmaɫ.tɨ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "maleta" vs "malte" - which ranks higher?
"maleta" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #29,036 in our Portuguese list, against #30,244 for "malte". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "maleta" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "malte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #8,264 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "maleta" and "malte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "malte vs malva". 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 #8,264 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