mamãvsmanéConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#29,037
“mamã” frequency rank
#16,814
“mané” frequency rank
45851
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mamã mané
Definition mãe pessoa boba, tolo

Letter map: mamã vs mané

Shared letters muted; letters that set mamã and mané apart highlighted. Shared run: 2. mamã and mané follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

4 ch
mamã
4 ch
mané

Spelling & dictionary notes on mamã vs mané

mamã and mané 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 45851, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mamã is recorded at frequency rank #29,037, classified as anoun, pronounced /mɜˈmɜ̃/. mané is at rank #16,814, tagged as anoun.

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 45851, this pair ranks #19,532 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of mamã vs mané

Shared letters: am. Private to "mamã": ã. Private to "mané": né.

"mamã" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "mané" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "mamã" and "mané" be used interchangeably?
No. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Frequency check: "mamã" vs "mané" - which ranks higher?
"mané" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #16,814 in our Portuguese list, against #29,037 for "mamã". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "mamã" and "mané".

  • Full dictionary entry for "mamã" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "mané" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #19,532 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mamã" and "mané" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "maa vs mamã". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #19,532 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