marcavsmatchConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#1,013
“marca” frequency rank
#14,647
“match” frequency rank
15660
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature marca match
Definition ato ou efeito de marcar palito de fósforo

Where the eye mixes marca and match

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
marca
5 ch
match

Why the eye confuses marca with match

A purely visual mix-up. marca (/ˈmaɾ.kɐ/) and match (/ˈmætʃ/) 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 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 15660, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

marca is recorded at frequency rank #1,013, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈmaɾ.kɐ/. match is at rank #14,647, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈmætʃ/.

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 15660, this pair ranks #56,101 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of marca vs match

Shared letters: acm. Private to "marca": r. Private to "match": ht.

"marca" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "match" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • marcaamrca · macra · marac · marcca · marrca · mmarca · mraca
  • matchamtch · macth · matcch · matchh · mathc · mattch · mmatch · mtach

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "marca" and "match" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈmaɾ.kɐ/ versus /ˈmætʃ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "marca" or "match" show up more?
"marca" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,013 in our Portuguese list, against #14,647 for "match". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "marca" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "match" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #56,101 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "marca" and "match" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "match vs matiz". 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 #56,101 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list