manhosovsmansoConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#49,022
“manhoso” frequency rank
#22,382
“manso” frequency rank
71404
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature manhoso manso
Definition que usa de manha pacífico

Where the eye mixes manhoso and manso

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. manhoso runs 7 letters (CVCCVCV) against manso's 5 (CVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
manhoso
5 ch
manso

Why the eye confuses manhoso with manso

A purely visual mix-up. manhoso (/mɐ.ˈɲo.zu/) and manso (/ˈmɐ̃.su/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 71404, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

manhoso is recorded at frequency rank #49,022, classified as anadj, pronounced /mɐ.ˈɲo.zu/. manso is at rank #22,382, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈmɐ̃.su/.

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 71404, this pair ranks #3,348 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of manhoso vs manso

Shared letters: amnos. Private to "manhoso": h. Private to "manso": -.

"manhoso" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV  ·  "manso" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • manhoso ← amnhoso · mahnoso · manhhoso · manhoos · manhosso · manhsoo · mannhoso · manohso
  • manso ← amnso · mannso · manos · mansso · masno · mmanso · mnaso

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "manhoso" for "manso" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/mɐ.ˈɲo.zu/ versus /ˈmɐ̃.su/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "manhoso" or "manso" show up more?
"manso" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #22,382 in our Portuguese list, against #49,022 for "manhoso". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "manhoso" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "manso" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #3,348 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "manhoso" and "manso" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "manhas vs manhoso". 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 #3,348 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