matarvsminarTell them apart

Which to use

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

#1,053
“matar” frequency rank
#26,813
“minar” frequency rank
27866
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature matar minar
Definition causar morte, tirar a vida escavar para extrair da terra metais, líquidos, etc

Letter map: matar vs minar

Shared letters muted; letters that set matar and minar apart highlighted. Shared run: 3. matar and minar follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

5 ch
matar
5 ch
minar

Corpus notes: matar and minar

matar and minar are indexed as a confusable Portuguese pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 27866, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

matar is recorded at frequency rank #1,053, classified as averb, pronounced /mɐ.ˈtaɾ/. minar is at rank #26,813, tagged as averb.

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 27866, this pair ranks #41,047 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of matar vs minar

Shared letters: amr. Private to "matar": t. Private to "minar": in.

"matar" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "minar" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • matar ← amtar · maatr · matarr · matra · mattar · mmatar · mtaar
  • minar ← imnar · mianr · minarr · minnar · minra · mminar · mniar

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "matar" for "minar" ever safe?
No. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Frequency check: "matar" vs "minar" - which ranks higher?
"matar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,053 in our Portuguese list, against #26,813 for "minar". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

You've compared "matar" and "minar". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "matar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "minar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #41,047 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "matar" and "minar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "minado vs minar". 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 #41,047 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