Which to use
“mano” and “mat” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #3,493
- “mano” frequency rank
- #21,805
- “mat” frequency rank
- 25298
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | mano | mat |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | irmão (todas as acepções, exceto Religião) | casamento |
Where the eye mixes mano and mat
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses mano with mat
A purely visual mix-up. mano (/ˈmã.nu/) and mat (/mat/) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 25298, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
mano is recorded at frequency rank #3,493, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈmã.nu/. mat is at rank #21,805, tagged as anoun, pronounced /mat/.
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 25298, this pair ranks #44,045 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of mano vs mat
Shared letters: am. Private to "mano": no. Private to "mat": t.
"mano" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "mat" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- mano ← amno · manno · maon · mmano · mnao
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "mano" and "mat" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "mano" or "mat" show up more?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "mano" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "mat" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #44,045 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "mano" and "mat" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "maa vs mat". 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 #44,045 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.