Which to use
“may” is a verb and “meu” is a pronoun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #5,226
- “may” frequency rank
- #46
- “meu” frequency rank
- 5272
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | may | meu |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | obter permissão. Também utilizado quando se deseja fazer um pedido, de maneira cortês. | de posse da primeira pessoa do singular (eu); pertencente a mim |
Where the eye mixes may and meu
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.
Why the eye confuses may with meu
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: may is /meɪ/ while meu is /ˈmew/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs pronoun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 5272, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
may is recorded at frequency rank #5,226, classified as averb, pronounced /meɪ/. meu is at rank #46, tagged as apron, pronounced /ˈmew/.
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 5272, this pair ranks #69,380 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of may vs meu
Shared letters: m. Private to "may": ay. Private to "meu": eu.
"may" · 3 letters · shape CVV · "meu" · 3 letters · shape CVV
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "may" for "meu" ever safe?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "may" or "meu" show up more?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "may" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "meu" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #69,380 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "may" and "meu" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "maa vs may". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #69,380 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.