malho vs malo, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“malho” is a noun and “malo” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#44,473
“malho” frequency rank: #41,118
“malo” frequency rank: 85591
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	malho	malo
Definition	ferramenta com cabo de madeira e na extremidade uma peça de metal com uma superfície lisa, usada para bater pregos; martelo	mau, malévolo:

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set malho and malo apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch

malho

4 ch

malo

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: malho is anoun and maloanadjective. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 85591, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

malho is recorded at frequency rank #44,473, classified as anoun. malo is at rank #41,118, tagged as anadj.

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 85591, this pair ranks #674 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of malho vs malo

Shared letters: almo. Private to "malho": h. Private to "malo": -.

"malho" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "malo" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

malho ← amlho · mahlo · malhho · mallho · maloh · mlaho · mmalho
malo ← amlo · mallo · maol · mlao · mmalo

Frequency comparison

malho#44,473

malo#41,118

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "malho" and "malo" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "malho" is a noun and "malo" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "malho" or "malo"?

"malo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #41,118 in our Portuguese list, against #44,473 for "malho". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering malho vs malo

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “malho”; for an adjective, it's “malo”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “malho” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable