Which to use
“man” is a pronoun and “mas” is a conjunction - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #2,736
- “man” frequency rank
- #25
- “mas” frequency rank
- 2761
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | man | mas |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | se (atua como partícula de indeterminação do sujeito): | conjunção adversativa, indica clara oposição entre ideias |
Where the spellings diverge
Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set man and mas apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
man and mas form a confusable pair in the Portuguese index, two distinct headwords that are easily confused because they look alike, sound alike, or both. They differ by a single letter - n in “man” becomes s in “mas” - close enough that the eye skips over the difference, far enough that meaning fully diverges. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 2761, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
man is recorded at frequency rank #2,736, classified as apron. mas is at rank #25, tagged as aconj, pronounced /ˈmɐʃ/.
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 2761, this pair ranks #72,514 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Frequency comparison
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "man" and "mas" be used interchangeably?
Remembering man vs mas
The fastest way to pick the right one every time.
- Check the role first: if you need a pronoun, it's “man”; for a conjunction, it's “mas”.
- See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “man” entry
- Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable