Which to use
“malo” is an adjective and “muto” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #41,118
- “malo” frequency rank
- #43,549
- “muto” frequency rank
- 84667
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | malo | muto |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | mau, malévolo: | mudar algo de sítio, remover. |
Letter map: malo vs muto
Shared letters muted; letters that set malo and muto apart highlighted. Shared run: 2. malo and muto follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Grammar separator: malo vs muto
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: malo is anadjective and mutoaverb. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 84667, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
malo is recorded at frequency rank #41,118, classified as anadj. muto is at rank #43,549, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈmuː.toː/.
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 84667, this pair ranks #762 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of malo vs muto
Shared letters: mo. Private to "malo": al. Private to "muto": tu.
"malo" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "muto" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "malo" for "muto" ever safe?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "malo" or "muto" show up more?
What to do next
Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "malo" and "muto".
- Full dictionary entry for "malo" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "muto" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #762 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "malo" and "muto" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "muso vs muto". 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 #762 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.