mãos vs may, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“mãos” is a noun and “may” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#761
“mãos” frequency rank: #5,226
“may” frequency rank: 5987
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	mãos	may
Definition	plural de mão	obter permissão. Também utilizado quando se deseja fazer um pedido, de maneira cortês.

Where the spellings diverge

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

4 ch

mãos

3 ch

may

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: mãos is /ˈmɐ̃w̃ʃ/ while may is /meɪ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 5987, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mãos is recorded at frequency rank #761, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈmɐ̃w̃ʃ/. may is at rank #5,226, tagged as averb, pronounced /meɪ/.

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 5987, this pair ranks #68,555 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of mãos vs may

Shared letters: m. Private to "mãos": osã. Private to "may": ay.

"mãos" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "may" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Frequency comparison

mãos#761

may#5,226

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

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

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "mãos" is a noun and "may" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

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

"mãos" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #761 in our Portuguese list, against #5,226 for "may". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering mãos vs may

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “mãos”; for a verb, it's “may”.
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