mayvsminWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: may is a verb, min is a symbol, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“may” is a verb and “min” is a symbol - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#5,226
“may” frequency rank
#4,495
“min” frequency rank
9721
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature may min
Definition obter permissão. Também utilizado quando se deseja fazer um pedido, de maneira cortês. símbolo de minuto

Letter map: may vs min

Shared letters muted; letters that set may and min apart highlighted. Shared run: 1.

3 ch
may
3 ch
min

Grammar separator: may vs min

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: may is averb and minasymbol. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 9721, 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/. min is at rank #4,495, tagged as asymbol.

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 9721, this pair ranks #63,617 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of may vs min

Shared letters: m. Private to "may": ay. Private to "min": in.

"may" · 3 letters · shape CVV  ·  "min" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "may" and "min" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "may" is a verb and "min" a symbol, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "may" vs "min" - which ranks higher?
"min" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,495 in our Portuguese list, against #5,226 for "may". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pair "may" vs "min" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "may" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "min" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #63,617 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "may" and "min" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "maa vs may". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #63,617 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