média vs mediano, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“média” is a noun and “mediano” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#993
“média” frequency rank: #24,717
“mediano” frequency rank: 25710
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	média	mediano
Definition	valor intermediário	que está no meio

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set média and mediano apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch

média

7 ch

mediano

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: média is anoun and medianoanadjective. On the page they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 25710, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

média is recorded at frequency rank #993, classified as anoun. mediano is at rank #24,717, tagged as anadj, pronounced /mɨ.ˈdjɐ.nu/.

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 25710, this pair ranks #43,552 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of média vs mediano

Shared letters: adim. Private to "média": é. Private to "mediano": eno.

"média" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV · "mediano" · 7 letters · shape CVCVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

mediano ← emdiano · mdeiano · medaino · meddiano · medianno · mediaon · medinao · meidano

Frequency comparison

média#993

mediano#24,717

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "média" and "mediano" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "média" is a noun and "mediano" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "média" or "mediano"?

"média" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #993 in our Portuguese list, against #24,717 for "mediano". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering média vs mediano

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “média”; for an adjective, it's “mediano”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “média” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable