mamãovsmayoConfusable pair

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

Which to use

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

#23,399
“mamão” frequency rank
#30,251
“mayo” frequency rank
53650
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mamão mayo
Definition que mama muito maio

Letter map: mamão vs mayo

Shared letters muted; letters that set mamão and mayo apart highlighted. Shared run: 3. mamão runs 5 letters (CVCVV) against mayo's 4 (CVVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
mamão
4 ch
mayo

Grammar separator: mamão vs mayo

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: mamão is anadjective and mayoanoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 53650, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mamão is recorded at frequency rank #23,399, classified as anadj. mayo is at rank #30,251, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈma.ʝo/.

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 53650, this pair ranks #11,882 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of mamão vs mayo

Shared letters: amo. Private to "mamão": ã. Private to "mayo": y.

"mamão" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV  ·  "mayo" · 4 letters · shape CVVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • mayo ← amyo · maoy · mayyo · mmayo · myao

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "mamão" and "mayo" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "mamão" is an adjective and "mayo" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "mamão" or "mayo"?
"mamão" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #23,399 in our Portuguese list, against #30,251 for "mayo". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

You've compared "mamão" and "mayo". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "mamão" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "mayo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #11,882 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mamão" and "mayo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "maa vs mayo". 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 #11,882 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