Which to use
“maranhão” is an adjective and “marinha” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #3,494
- “maranhão” frequency rank
- #3,156
- “marinha” frequency rank
- 6650
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | maranhão | marinha |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | selvagem, montês, mui bravo | costa, ribeira, praia, território próximo ao mar e por ele influenciado, litoral |
Where the eye mixes maranhão and marinha
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. maranhão runs 8 letters (CVCVCCVV) against marinha's 7 (CVCVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: maranhão vs marinha
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: maranhão is /ma.ɾa.'ɲoŋ/ while marinha is /mɐ.ˈɾi.ɲɐ/. 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 (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 6650, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
maranhão is recorded at frequency rank #3,494, classified as anadj, pronounced /ma.ɾa.'ɲoŋ/. marinha is at rank #3,156, tagged as anoun, pronounced /mɐ.ˈɾi.ɲɐ/.
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 6650, this pair ranks #67,750 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of maranhão vs marinha
Shared letters: ahmnr. Private to "maranhão": oã. Private to "marinha": i.
"maranhão" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVV · "marinha" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- marinha ← amrinha · mairnha · marihna · marinah · marinhha · marinnha · marniha · marrinha
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "maranhão" for "marinha" ever safe?
Which is more common, "maranhão" or "marinha"?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "maranhão" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "marinha" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #67,750 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "maranhão" and "marinha" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "marinha vs matilha". 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 #67,750 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.