malhovsmamãoWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: malho is a noun, mamão is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#44,473
“malho” frequency rank
#23,399
“mamão” frequency rank
67872
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature malho mamão
Definition ferramenta com cabo de madeira e na extremidade uma peça de metal com uma superfície lisa, usada para bater pregos; martelo que mama muito

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set malho and mamão apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
malho
5 ch
mamão

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: malho is anoun and mamãoanadjective. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 67872, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

malho is recorded at frequency rank #44,473, classified as anoun. mamão is at rank #23,399, 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 67872, this pair ranks #4,464 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of malho vs mamão

Shared letters: amo. Private to "malho": hl. Private to "mamão": ã.

"malho" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "mamão" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • malhoamlho · mahlo · malhho · mallho · maloh · mlaho · mmalho

Frequency comparison

malho#44,473
mamão#23,399

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "malho" and "mamão" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "malho" is a noun and "mamão" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "malho" or "mamão"?
"mamão" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #23,399 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 mamão

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 “mamão”.
  • 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

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list