mayovsmodoWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#30,251
“mayo” frequency rank
#606
“modo” frequency rank
30857
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mayo modo
Definition maio maneira, jeito

Where the eye mixes mayo and modo

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
mayo
4 ch
modo

Look-alike desk: mayo vs modo

A purely visual mix-up. mayo (/ˈma.ʝo/) and modo (/ˈmɔ.du/) 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 30857, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mayo is recorded at frequency rank #30,251, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈma.ʝo/. modo is at rank #606, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈmɔ.du/.

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 30857, this pair ranks #37,395 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of mayo vs modo

Shared letters: mo. Private to "mayo": ay. Private to "modo": d.

"mayo" · 4 letters · shape CVVV  ·  "modo" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • mayoamyo · maoy · mayyo · mmayo · myao
  • modomdoo · mmodo · moddo · omdo

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "mayo" and "modo" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈma.ʝo/ versus /ˈmɔ.du/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "mayo" vs "modo" - which ranks higher?
"modo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #606 in our Portuguese list, against #30,251 for "mayo". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "mayo" and "modo" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "mayo" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "modo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #37,395 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mayo" and "modo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "maa vs mayo". 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 #37,395 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