marinhovsMartinhoTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#6,087
“marinho” frequency rank
#15,159
“Martinho” frequency rank
21246
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature marinho Martinho
Definition relativo ao mar nome de santo, papas, bispos e de fidalgos que na sua forma mais antiga se dizia Martim

Where the eye mixes marinho and Martinho

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.

7 ch
marinho
8 ch
Martinho

Look-alike desk: marinho vs Martinho

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: marinho is /mɐ.ˈɾi.ɲu/ while Martinho is /maɾ.ˈtʃi.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 (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 21246, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

marinho is recorded at frequency rank #6,087, classified as anadj, pronounced /mɐ.ˈɾi.ɲu/. Martinho is at rank #15,159, tagged as anoun, pronounced /maɾ.ˈtʃi.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 21246, this pair ranks #49,076 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of marinho vs Martinho

Shared letters: ahimnor. Private to "marinho": -. Private to "Martinho": t.

"marinho" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV  ·  "Martinho" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • marinhoamrinho · mairnho · marihno · marinhho · marinnho · marinoh · marniho · marrinho
  • Martinhoamrtinho · maritnho · marrtinho · martihno · martinhho · martinnho · martinoh · martniho

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "marinho" and "Martinho" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "marinho" is an adjective and "Martinho" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "marinho" or "Martinho" show up more?
"marinho" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,087 in our Portuguese list, against #15,159 for "Martinho". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "marinho" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Martinho" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #49,076 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "marinho" and "Martinho" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Martinho vs Martino". 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 #49,076 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