matançavsmudançaWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#14,646
“matança” frequency rank
#991
“mudança” frequency rank
15637
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature matança mudança
Definition grande mortandade o ato de trocar ou mudar

Where the eye mixes matança and mudança

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. matança and mudança follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

7 ch
matança
7 ch
mudança

Visual trap between matança and mudança

A purely visual mix-up. matança (/mɐ.ˈtɐ̃.sɐ/) and mudança (/mu.ˈdɐ̃.sɐ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 15637, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

matança is recorded at frequency rank #14,646, classified as anoun, pronounced /mɐ.ˈtɐ̃.sɐ/. mudança is at rank #991, tagged as anoun, pronounced /mu.ˈdɐ̃.sɐ/.

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 15637, this pair ranks #56,131 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of matança vs mudança

Shared letters: amnç. Private to "matança": t. Private to "mudança": du.

"matança" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV  ·  "mudança" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "matança" for "mudança" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/mɐ.ˈtɐ̃.sɐ/ versus /mu.ˈdɐ̃.sɐ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "matança" or "mudança"?
"mudança" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #991 in our Portuguese list, against #14,646 for "matança". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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 "matança" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "mudança" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #56,131 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "matança" and "mudança" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "macaca vs matança". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #56,131 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