marévsmaterWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#7,659
“maré” frequency rank
#31,868
“mater” frequency rank
39527
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature maré mater
Definition movimento periódico de subida e descida das águas do mar maternidade, estabelecimento público ou privado destinado a receber mulheres que estão a ponto de dar a luz

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set maré and mater apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
maré
5 ch
mater

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. maré (/mɐ.ˈɾɛ/) and mater (/ma.tɛʁ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39527, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

maré is recorded at frequency rank #7,659, classified as anoun, pronounced /mɐ.ˈɾɛ/. mater is at rank #31,868, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ma.tɛʁ/.

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 39527, this pair ranks #26,697 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of maré vs mater

Shared letters: amr. Private to "maré": é. Private to "mater": et.

"maré" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "mater" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • materamter · maetr · materr · mmater · mtaer

Frequency comparison

maré#7,659
mater#31,868

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "maré" and "mater" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/mɐ.ˈɾɛ/ versus /ma.tɛʁ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "maré" or "mater"?
"maré" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,659 in our Portuguese list, against #31,868 for "mater". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering maré vs mater

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 “maré” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list