mastervsmatemTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#6,446
“master” frequency rank
#18,638
“matem” frequency rank
25084
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature master matem
Definition principal terceira pessoa do plural do presente do modo subjuntivo do verbo matar

Letter map: master vs matem

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

6 ch
master
5 ch
matem

Part-of-speech tell for master / matem

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: master is anadjective and matemaverb. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 25084, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

master is recorded at frequency rank #6,446, classified as anadj. matem is at rank #18,638, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈma.tẽɲ/.

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 25084, this pair ranks #44,316 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of master vs matem

Shared letters: aemt. Private to "master": rs. Private to "matem": -.

"master" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "matem" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • masteramster · masetr · masster · masterr · mastre · mastter · matser · mmaster
  • matemamtem · maetm · matemm · matme · mattem · mmatem · mtaem

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "master" and "matem" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "master" is an adjective and "matem" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "master" vs "matem" - which ranks higher?
"master" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,446 in our Portuguese list, against #18,638 for "matem". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

You've compared "master" and "matem". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "master" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "matem" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #44,316 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "master" and "matem" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "matem 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 #44,316 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