Which to use
“mata” is a noun and “matava” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #1,436
- “mata” frequency rank
- #20,939
- “matava” frequency rank
- 22375
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | mata | matava |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | porção de terreno repleto de árvores silvestres | primeira e terceira pessoa do singular do pretérito imperfeito do modo indicativo do verbo matar |
Where the eye mixes mata and matava
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. mata runs 4 letters (CVCV) against matava's 6 (CVCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between mata and matava
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: mata is /ˈma.tɐ/ while matava is /ma.ˈta.vɐ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “mata” sits inside “matava”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 22375, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
mata is recorded at frequency rank #1,436, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈma.tɐ/. matava is at rank #20,939, tagged as averb, pronounced /ma.ˈta.vɐ/.
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 22375, this pair ranks #47,680 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of mata vs matava
Shared letters: amt. Private to "mata": -. Private to "matava": v.
"mata" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "matava" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "mata" and "matava" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "mata" or "matava" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "mata" and "matava" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "mata" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "matava" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #47,680 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "mata" and "matava" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "marajá vs matava". 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 #47,680 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.