Which to use
“many” and “mau” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #20,050
- “many” frequency rank
- #1,936
- “mau” frequency rank
- 21986
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | many | mau |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | muito, muitos, muita, muitas | que não é de boa qualidade, ruim |
Where the eye mixes many and mau
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between many and mau
A purely visual mix-up. many (/ˈmɛ.ni/) and mau (/ˈmaw/) 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 21986, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
many is recorded at frequency rank #20,050, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈmɛ.ni/. mau is at rank #1,936, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈmaw/.
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 21986, this pair ranks #48,162 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of many vs mau
Shared letters: am. Private to "many": ny. Private to "mau": u.
"many" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "mau" · 3 letters · shape CVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- many ← amny · manny · manyy · mayn · mmany · mnay
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "many" for "mau" ever safe?
Frequency check: "many" vs "mau" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "many" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "mau" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #48,162 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "many" and "mau" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "maa vs many". 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 #48,162 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.