mãos vs maré, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#761
“mãos” frequency rank: #7,659
“maré” frequency rank: 8420
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	mãos	maré
Definition	plural de mão	movimento periódico de subida e descida das águas do mar

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set mãos and maré apart are highlighted. They share 1 letter in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch

mãos

4 ch

maré

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. mãos (/ˈmɐ̃w̃ʃ/) and maré (/mɐ.ˈɾɛ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 8420, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mãos is recorded at frequency rank #761, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈmɐ̃w̃ʃ/. maré is at rank #7,659, tagged as anoun, pronounced /mɐ.ˈɾɛ/.

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 8420, this pair ranks #65,361 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of mãos vs maré

Shared letters: m. Private to "mãos": osã. Private to "maré": aré.

"mãos" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "maré" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Frequency comparison

mãos#761

maré#7,659

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "mãos" and "maré" be used interchangeably?

No. They are said differently (/ˈmɐ̃w̃ʃ/ versus /mɐ.ˈɾɛ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.

Which is more common, "mãos" or "maré"?

"mãos" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #761 in our Portuguese list, against #7,659 for "maré". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering mãos vs maré

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “mãos” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable