Which to use
“man” is a pronoun and “mão” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #2,736
- “man” frequency rank
- #451
- “mão” frequency rank
- 3187
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | man | mão |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | se (atua como partícula de indeterminação do sujeito): | extremidade do membro anterior dos primatas, capaz de manipular objetos; parte do corpo semelhante ou análoga em outros animais |
Letter map: man vs mão
Shared letters muted; letters that set man and mão apart highlighted. Shared run: 1.
Part-of-speech tell for man / mão
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: man is apronoun and mãoanoun. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 3187, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
man is recorded at frequency rank #2,736, classified as apron. mão is at rank #451, tagged as anoun, pronounced /mãw/.
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 3187, this pair ranks #72,003 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of man vs mão
Shared letters: m. Private to "man": an. Private to "mão": oã.
"man" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "mão" · 3 letters · shape CVV
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "man" and "mão" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "man" or "mão" show up more?
After this comparison
Pair "man" vs "mão" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.
- Full dictionary entry for "man" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "mão" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #72,003 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "man" and "mão" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "maa vs man". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #72,003 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.