MariavsmarmitaWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#619
“Maria” frequency rank
#41,599
“marmita” frequency rank
42218
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Maria marmita
Definition prenome feminino muito comum vasilha em que se leva a refeição individual para o local de trabalho, estudo, etc

Where the eye mixes Maria and marmita

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. Maria runs 5 letters (CVCVV) against marmita's 7 (CVCCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
Maria
7 ch
marmita

Visual trap between Maria and marmita

A purely visual mix-up. Maria (/ma.ˈɾi.ɐ/) and marmita (/mɐɾ.ˈmi.tɐ/) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42218, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Maria is recorded at frequency rank #619, classified as anoun, pronounced /ma.ˈɾi.ɐ/. marmita is at rank #41,599, tagged as anoun, pronounced /mɐɾ.ˈmi.tɐ/.

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 42218, this pair ranks #23,595 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Maria vs marmita

Shared letters: aimr. Private to "Maria": -. Private to "marmita": t.

"Maria" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV  ·  "marmita" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Maria ← amria · maira · marai · marria · mmaria · mraia
  • marmita ← amrmita · mamrita · marimta · marmiat · marmitta · marmmita · marmtia · marrmita

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Maria" and "marmita" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ma.ˈɾi.ɐ/ versus /mɐɾ.ˈmi.tɐ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Maria" or "marmita"?
"Maria" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #619 in our Portuguese list, against #41,599 for "marmita". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Maria" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "marmita" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #23,595 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Maria" and "marmita" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "marmita vs marmota". 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 #23,595 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