maternidadevsmodernidadeWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#9,077
“maternidade” frequency rank
#10,400
“modernidade” frequency rank
19477
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature maternidade modernidade
Definition qualidade ou condição de mãe qualidade do que é moderno

Where the eye mixes maternidade and modernidade

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence.

11 ch
maternidade
11 ch
modernidade

Look-alike desk: maternidade vs modernidade

A purely visual mix-up. maternidade (/mɐ.tɨɾ.ni.ˈda.dɨ/) and modernidade (/mu.dɨɾ.ni.ˈda.dɨ/) 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 19477, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

maternidade is recorded at frequency rank #9,077, classified as anoun, pronounced /mɐ.tɨɾ.ni.ˈda.dɨ/. modernidade is at rank #10,400, tagged as anoun, pronounced /mu.dɨɾ.ni.ˈda.dɨ/.

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 19477, this pair ranks #51,226 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of maternidade vs modernidade

Shared letters: adeimnr. Private to "maternidade": t. Private to "modernidade": o.

"maternidade" · 11 letters · shape CVCVCCVCVCV  ·  "modernidade" · 11 letters · shape CVCVCCVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • maternidadeamternidade · maetrnidade · matenridade · materindade · materndiade · materniadde · maternidadde · maternidaed
  • modernidademdoernidade · mmodernidade · moddernidade · modenridade · moderindade · moderndiade · moderniadde · modernidadde

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "maternidade" for "modernidade" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/mɐ.tɨɾ.ni.ˈda.dɨ/ versus /mu.dɨɾ.ni.ˈda.dɨ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "maternidade" or "modernidade"?
"maternidade" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,077 in our Portuguese list, against #10,400 for "modernidade". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "maternidade" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "modernidade" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #51,226 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "maternidade" and "modernidade" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "maternidade vs maturidade". 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 #51,226 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