matovsmuitoWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: mato is a noun, muito is an adverb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“mato” is a noun and “muito” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#1,821
“mato” frequency rank
#39
“muito” frequency rank
1860
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mato muito
Definition área não cultivada e coberta de plantas agrestes em alto grau

Where the eye mixes mato and muito

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

4 ch
mato
5 ch
muito

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: mato is /ˈma.tʊ/ while muito is /ˈmũj.tu/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 1860, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mato is recorded at frequency rank #1,821, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈma.tʊ/. muito is at rank #39, tagged as anadv, pronounced /ˈmũj.tu/.

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 1860, this pair ranks #73,669 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of mato vs muito

Shared letters: mot. Private to "mato": a. Private to "muito": iu.

"mato" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "muito" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • matoamto · maot · matto · mmato · mtao
  • muitomiuto · mmuito · muiot · muitto · mutio · umito

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "mato" and "muito" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "mato" is a noun and "muito" an adverb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "mato" or "muito"?
"muito" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #39 in our Portuguese list, against #1,821 for "mato". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list