marcovsmatchConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#1,754
“marco” frequency rank
#14,647
“match” frequency rank
16401
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature marco match
Definition sinal de demarcação que se põe nos limites territoriais palito de fósforo

Where the eye mixes marco and match

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

5 ch
marco
5 ch
match

Visual trap between marco and match

A purely visual mix-up. marco (/ˈmaɾ.ku/) 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 16401, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

marco is recorded at frequency rank #1,754, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈmaɾ.ku/. 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 16401, this pair ranks #55,143 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of marco vs match

Shared letters: acm. Private to "marco": or. Private to "match": ht.

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

Known mistypes of this pair

  • marcoamrco · macro · marcco · maroc · marrco · mmarco · mraco
  • matchamtch · macth · matcch · matchh · mathc · mattch · mmatch · mtach

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "marco" and "match" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈmaɾ.ku/ versus /ˈmætʃ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "marco" vs "match" - which ranks higher?
"marco" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,754 in our Portuguese list, against #14,647 for "match". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "marco" and "match" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "marco" 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 #55,143 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "marco" 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 #55,143 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