Which to use
“malo” and “medo” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #41,118
- “malo” frequency rank
- #379
- “medo” frequency rank
- 41497
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | malo | medo |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | mau, malévolo: | que pertence ou se refere à Média |
Letter map: malo vs medo
Shared letters muted; letters that set malo and medo apart highlighted. Shared run: 2. malo and medo follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Corpus notes: malo and medo
malo and medo 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 41497, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
malo is recorded at frequency rank #41,118, classified as anadj. medo is at rank #379, tagged as anadj, pronounced AFI: /'me.du/.
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 41497, this pair ranks #24,418 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of malo vs medo
Shared letters: mo. Private to "malo": al. Private to "medo": de.
"malo" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "medo" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "malo" and "medo" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "malo" vs "medo" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Pair "malo" vs "medo" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.
- Full dictionary entry for "malo" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "medo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #24,418 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "malo" and "medo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "maa vs malo". 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 #24,418 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.