matvsmatasTell them apart

Which to use

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

#21,805
“mat” frequency rank
#10,927
“matas” frequency rank
32732
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mat matas
Definition casamento plural de mata

Where the eye mixes mat and matas

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

3 ch
mat
5 ch
matas

Visual trap between mat and matas

A purely visual mix-up. mat (/mat/) and matas (/ˈma.tɐʃ/) 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 extra letter(s) - “mat” sits inside “matas”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 32732, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mat is recorded at frequency rank #21,805, classified as anoun, pronounced /mat/. matas is at rank #10,927, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈma.tɐʃ/.

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 32732, this pair ranks #34,973 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of mat vs matas

Shared letters: amt. Private to "mat": -. Private to "matas": s.

"mat" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "matas" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • matasamtas · maats · matass · matsa · mattas · mmatas · mtaas

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "mat" and "matas" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/mat/ versus /ˈma.tɐʃ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "mat" or "matas"?
"matas" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,927 in our Portuguese list, against #21,805 for "mat". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "mat" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "matas" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #34,973 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mat" and "matas" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "maa vs mat". 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 #34,973 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