masturbação vs maturação, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“masturbação” and “maturação” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#17,849
“masturbação” frequency rank: #28,669
“maturação” frequency rank: 46518
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	masturbação	maturação
Definition	ato no qual a pessoa toca a própria região genital para produzir prazer	período que acontece após o crescimento

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set masturbação and maturação apart are highlighted. They share 9 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

11 ch

masturbação

9 ch

maturação

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. masturbação (/mɐʃ.tuɾ.bɐ.ˈsɐ̃w̃/) and maturação (/mɐ.tu.ɾɐ.ˈsɐ̃w̃/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46518, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

masturbação is recorded at frequency rank #17,849, classified as anoun, pronounced /mɐʃ.tuɾ.bɐ.ˈsɐ̃w̃/. maturação is at rank #28,669, tagged as anoun, pronounced /mɐ.tu.ɾɐ.ˈsɐ̃w̃/.

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 46518, this pair ranks #18,777 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of masturbação vs maturação

Shared letters: amortuãç. Private to "masturbação": bs. Private to "maturação": -.

"masturbação" · 11 letters · shape CVCCVCCVCVV · "maturação" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCVCVV

Frequency comparison

masturbação#17,849

maturação#28,669

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "masturbação" and "maturação" be used interchangeably?

No. They are said differently (/mɐʃ.tuɾ.bɐ.ˈsɐ̃w̃/ versus /mɐ.tu.ɾɐ.ˈsɐ̃w̃/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.

Which is more common, "masturbação" or "maturação"?

"masturbação" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,849 in our Portuguese list, against #28,669 for "maturação". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering masturbação vs maturação

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “masturbação” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable