mas vs mens, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#25
“mas” frequency rank: #47,487
“mens” frequency rank: 47512
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	mas	mens
Definition	conjunção adversativa, indica clara oposição entre ideias	pessoa, humano, homem

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set mas and mens apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

3 ch

mas

4 ch

mens

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: mas is /ˈmɐʃ/ while mens is [ mɛns ]. 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 (conjunction vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47512, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mas is recorded at frequency rank #25, classified as aconj, pronounced /ˈmɐʃ/. mens is at rank #47,487, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ mɛns ].

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 47512, this pair ranks #17,728 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of mas vs mens

Shared letters: ms. Private to "mas": a. Private to "mens": en.

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

Known mistypes of this pair

mens ← emns · menns · menss · mesn · mmens · mnes

Frequency comparison

mas#25

mens#47,487

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

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

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

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

"mas" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #25 in our Portuguese list, against #47,487 for "mens". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering mas vs mens

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 “mens”.
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