mamãvsmulaWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#29,037
“mamã” frequency rank
#19,501
“mula” frequency rank
48538
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mamã mula
Definition mãe animal fêmea resultante do cruzamento dum jumento com uma égua

Where the eye mixes mamã and mula

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. mamã and mula 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
mula

Why the eye confuses mamã with mula

A purely visual mix-up. mamã (/mɜˈmɜ̃/) and mula (/ˈmu.lɐ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48538, 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/. mula is at rank #19,501, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈmu.lɐ/.

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 48538, this pair ranks #16,625 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of mamã vs mula

Shared letters: am. Private to "mamã": ã. Private to "mula": lu.

"mamã" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "mula" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • mula ← mlua · mmula · mual · mulla · umla

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "mamã" and "mula" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/mɜˈmɜ̃/ versus /ˈmu.lɐ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "mamã" or "mula"?
"mula" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #19,501 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

Eye-level mix-up between "mamã" and "mula" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "mamã" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "mula" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #16,625 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mamã" and "mula" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "maa vs mamã". 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 #16,625 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