Which to use
“manter” is a verb and “mate” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #650
- “manter” frequency rank
- #7,048
- “mate” frequency rank
- 7698
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | manter | mate |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | sustentar | sem brilho |
Where the eye mixes manter and mate
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: manter vs mate
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: manter is /mɐ̃.ˈteɾ/ while mate is /ˈma.tɨ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 7698, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
manter is recorded at frequency rank #650, classified as averb, pronounced /mɐ̃.ˈteɾ/. mate is at rank #7,048, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈma.tɨ/.
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 7698, this pair ranks #66,377 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of manter vs mate
Shared letters: aemt. Private to "manter": nr. Private to "mate": -.
"manter" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "mate" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "manter" and "mate" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "manter" or "mate" show up more?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "manter" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "mate" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #66,377 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "manter" and "mate" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "maa vs mate". 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 #66,377 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.