malhavsmalharWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: malha is a noun, malhar is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“malha” is a noun and “malhar” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#10,925
“malha” frequency rank
#26,455
“malhar” frequency rank
37380
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature malha malhar
Definition estrutura geométrica formada por linhas regulares ou não bater com malho ou instrumento análogo

Letter map: malha vs malhar

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

5 ch
malha
6 ch
malhar

Grammar separator: malha vs malhar

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: malha is anoun and malharaverb. On the page they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “malha” sits inside “malhar”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37380, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

malha is recorded at frequency rank #10,925, classified as anoun. malhar is at rank #26,455, tagged as averb, pronounced /mɐ.ˈʎaɾ/.

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 37380, this pair ranks #29,233 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of malha vs malhar

Shared letters: ahlm. Private to "malha": -. Private to "malhar": r.

"malha" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "malhar" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • malha ← amlha · mahla · malah · malhha · mallha · mlaha · mmalha
  • malhar ← amlhar · mahlar · malahr · malharr · malhhar · malhra · mallhar · mlahar

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "malha" for "malhar" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "malha" is a noun and "malhar" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "malha" or "malhar" show up more?
"malha" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,925 in our Portuguese list, against #26,455 for "malhar". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "malha" and "malhar".

  • Full dictionary entry for "malha" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "malhar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #29,233 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "malha" and "malhar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "malhar vs multar". 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 #29,233 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