mas vs mask, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“mas” is a conjunction and “mask” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#25
“mas” frequency rank: #36,537
“mask” frequency rank: 36562
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	mas	mask
Definition	conjunção adversativa, indica clara oposição entre ideias	máscara

Where the spellings diverge

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

3 ch

mas

4 ch

mask

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: mas is /ˈmɐʃ/ while mask is /mæsk/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “mas” sits inside “mask”, and the parts of speech differ too (conjunction vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 36562, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mas is recorded at frequency rank #25, classified as aconj, pronounced /ˈmɐʃ/. mask is at rank #36,537, tagged as anoun, pronounced /mæsk/.

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 36562, this pair ranks #30,211 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of mas vs mask

Shared letters: ams. Private to "mas": -. Private to "mask": k.

"mas" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "mask" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

mask ← amsk · maks · maskk · massk · mmask · msak

Frequency comparison

mas#25

mask#36,537

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "mas" and "mask" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "mas" is a conjunction and "mask" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "mas" or "mask"?

"mas" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #25 in our Portuguese list, against #36,537 for "mask". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering mas vs mask

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need a conjunction, it's “mas”; for a noun, it's “mask”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “mas” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable