Which to use
“mastro” and “mostra” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #19,493
- “mastro” frequency rank
- #772
- “mostra” frequency rank
- 20265
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | mastro | mostra |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | haste sobre a qual se iça uma bandeira | exemplo, espécime |
Where the eye mixes mastro and mostra
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. mastro and mostra follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses mastro with mostra
A purely visual mix-up. mastro (/ˈmaʃ.tɾu/) and mostra (/ˈmɔʃ.tɾɐ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they are an anagram pair: the same letters reordered. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 20265, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
mastro is recorded at frequency rank #19,493, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈmaʃ.tɾu/. mostra is at rank #772, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈmɔʃ.tɾɐ/.
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 20265, this pair ranks #50,284 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of mastro vs mostra
Shared letters: amorst. Private to "mastro": -. Private to "mostra": -.
"mastro" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV · "mostra" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "mastro" and "mostra" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "mastro" or "mostra" show up more?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "mastro" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "mostra" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #50,284 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "mastro" and "mostra" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mastro vs mestra". 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 #50,284 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.