malharvsmoldarWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#26,455
“malhar” frequency rank
#19,792
“moldar” frequency rank
46247
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature malhar moldar
Definition bater com malho ou instrumento análogo construir o molde de

Where the eye mixes malhar and moldar

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. malhar and moldar follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
malhar
6 ch
moldar

Visual trap between malhar and moldar

A purely visual mix-up. malhar (/mɐ.ˈʎaɾ/) and moldar (/moɫ.ˈdaɾ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46247, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

malhar is recorded at frequency rank #26,455, classified as averb, pronounced /mɐ.ˈʎaɾ/. moldar is at rank #19,792, tagged as averb, pronounced /moɫ.ˈdaɾ/.

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 46247, this pair ranks #19,100 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of malhar vs moldar

Shared letters: almr. Private to "malhar": h. Private to "moldar": do.

"malhar" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "moldar" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • malhar ← amlhar · mahlar · malahr · malharr · malhhar · malhra · mallhar · mlahar
  • moldar ← mlodar · mmoldar · modlar · moladr · moldarr · molddar · moldra · molldar

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "malhar" and "moldar" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/mɐ.ˈʎaɾ/ versus /moɫ.ˈdaɾ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "malhar" or "moldar"?
"moldar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #19,792 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

Eye-level mix-up between "malhar" and "moldar" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "malhar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "moldar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #19,100 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "malhar" and "moldar" 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 #19,100 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