Which to use
“may” is a verb and “my” is a pronoun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #5,226
- “may” frequency rank
- #1,440
- “my” frequency rank
- 6666
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | may | my |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | obter permissão. Também utilizado quando se deseja fazer um pedido, de maneira cortês. | nós |
Letter map: may vs my
Shared letters muted; letters that set may and my apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.
Part-of-speech tell for may / my
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: may is averb and myapronoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 6666, 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/. my is at rank #1,440, tagged as apron.
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 6666, this pair ranks #67,719 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of may vs my
Shared letters: my. Private to "may": a. Private to "my": -.
"may" · 3 letters · shape CVV · "my" · 2 letters · shape CV
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "may" for "my" ever safe?
Which is more common, "may" or "my"?
After this comparison
You've compared "may" and "my". Here's where to go from here.
- Full dictionary entry for "may" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "my" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #67,719 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "may" and "my" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "maa vs may". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #67,719 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.