maridovsmarinhoWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: marido is a noun, marinho is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“marido” is a noun and “marinho” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#1,197
“marido” frequency rank
#6,087
“marinho” frequency rank
7284
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature marido marinho
Definition o cônjuge masculino relativo ao mar

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set marido and marinho apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
marido
7 ch
marinho

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: marido is /mɐ.ˈɾi.du/ while marinho is /mɐ.ˈɾi.ɲu/. 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 (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 7284, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

marido is recorded at frequency rank #1,197, classified as anoun, pronounced /mɐ.ˈɾi.du/. marinho is at rank #6,087, tagged as anadj, pronounced /mɐ.ˈɾi.ɲu/.

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 7284, this pair ranks #66,880 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of marido vs marinho

Shared letters: aimor. Private to "marido": d. Private to "marinho": hn.

"marido" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "marinho" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • maridoamrido · mairdo · mardio · mariddo · mariod · marrido · mmarido · mraido
  • marinhoamrinho · mairnho · marihno · marinhho · marinnho · marinoh · marniho · marrinho

Frequency comparison

marido#1,197
marinho#6,087

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "marido" and "marinho" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "marido" is a noun and "marinho" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "marido" or "marinho"?
"marido" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,197 in our Portuguese list, against #6,087 for "marinho". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering marido vs marinho

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “marido”; for an adjective, it's “marinho”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “marido” 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