Which to use
“mamão” is an adjective and “melão” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #23,399
- “mamão” frequency rank
- #17,854
- “melão” frequency rank
- 41253
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | mamão | melão |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | que mama muito | o fruto do meloeiro, Cucumis melo |
Letter map: mamão vs melão
Shared letters muted; letters that set mamão and melão apart highlighted. Shared run: 3. mamão and melão follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Grammar separator: mamão vs melão
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: mamão is anadjective and melãoanoun. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 41253, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
mamão is recorded at frequency rank #23,399, classified as anadj. melão is at rank #17,854, tagged as anoun, pronounced /mɨ.ˈlɐ̃w̃/.
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 41253, this pair ranks #24,705 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of mamão vs melão
Shared letters: moã. Private to "mamão": a. Private to "melão": el.
"mamão" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV · "melão" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "mamão" for "melão" ever safe?
Frequency check: "mamão" vs "melão" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Pair "mamão" vs "melão" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.
- Full dictionary entry for "mamão" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "melão" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #24,705 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "mamão" and "melão" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "maa vs mamão". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #24,705 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.