maletavsmelecaConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#29,036
“maleta” frequency rank
#45,468
“meleca” frequency rank
74504
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature maleta meleca
Definition pequena mala secreção nasal úmida ou seca

Letter map: maleta vs meleca

Shared letters muted; letters that set maleta and meleca apart highlighted. Shared run: 4. maleta and meleca follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
maleta
6 ch
meleca

Pair insight - maleta / meleca

maleta and meleca 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 share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 74504, 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/. meleca is at rank #45,468, 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 74504, this pair ranks #2,512 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of maleta vs meleca

Shared letters: aelm. Private to "maleta": t. Private to "meleca": c.

"maleta" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "meleca" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • maleta ← amleta · maelta · maleat · maletta · malleta · maltea · mlaeta · mmaleta
  • meleca ← emleca · meelca · melcea · meleac · melecca · melleca · mleeca · mmeleca

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "maleta" and "meleca" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Frequency check: "maleta" vs "meleca" - which ranks higher?
"maleta" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #29,036 in our Portuguese list, against #45,468 for "meleca". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "maleta" and "meleca".

  • Full dictionary entry for "maleta" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "meleca" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #2,512 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "maleta" and "meleca" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "meleca vs muleta". 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 #2,512 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