mastervsmateiWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: master is a adjective, matei is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“master” is an adjective and “matei” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#6,446
“master” frequency rank
#9,532
“matei” frequency rank
15978
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature master matei
Definition principal primeira pessoa do singular do pretérito perfeito do modo indicativo do verbo matar

Letter map: master vs matei

Shared letters muted; letters that set master and matei apart highlighted. Shared run: 4.

6 ch
master
5 ch
matei

Grammar separator: master vs matei

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: master is anadjective and mateiaverb. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 15978, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

master is recorded at frequency rank #6,446, classified as anadj. matei is at rank #9,532, tagged as averb, pronounced /ma.ˈteɪ/.

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 15978, this pair ranks #55,709 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of master vs matei

Shared letters: aemt. Private to "master": rs. Private to "matei": i.

"master" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "matei" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • masteramster · masetr · masster · masterr · mastre · mastter · matser · mmaster
  • mateiamtei · maeti · matie · mattei · mmatei · mtaei

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "master" and "matei" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "master" is an adjective and "matei" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "master" vs "matei" - which ranks higher?
"master" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,446 in our Portuguese list, against #9,532 for "matei". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "master" and "matei".

  • Full dictionary entry for "master" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "matei" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #55,709 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "master" and "matei" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "matei vs matiz". 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 #55,709 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