mediaçãovsmedianaTell them apart

Which to use

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

#12,939
“mediação” frequency rank
#20,942
“mediana” frequency rank
33881
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mediação mediana
Definition ato ou efeito de agir como mediador, resolvendo uma contenda linha que une o ponto médio do lado de um triângulo e o vértice oposto

Where the eye mixes mediação and mediana

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. mediação runs 8 letters (CVCVVCVV) against mediana's 7 (CVCVVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
mediação
7 ch
mediana

Visual trap between mediação and mediana

A purely visual mix-up. mediação (/me.ʤɪ.ɐ.ˈsãw/, /me.ʤɐ.ˈsãw/) and mediana (/mɨ.ˈdjɐ.nɐ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 33881, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mediação is recorded at frequency rank #12,939, classified as anoun, pronounced /me.ʤɪ.ɐ.ˈsãw/, /me.ʤɐ.ˈsãw/. mediana is at rank #20,942, tagged as anoun, pronounced /mɨ.ˈdjɐ.nɐ/.

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 33881, this pair ranks #33,524 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of mediação vs mediana

Shared letters: adeim. Private to "mediação": oãç. Private to "mediana": n.

"mediação" · 8 letters · shape CVCVVCVV  ·  "mediana" · 7 letters · shape CVCVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • mediana ← emdiana · mdeiana · medaina · meddiana · mediaan · medianna · medinaa · meidana

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "mediação" and "mediana" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/me.ʤɪ.ɐ.ˈsãw/, /me.ʤɐ.ˈsãw/ versus /mɨ.ˈdjɐ.nɐ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "mediação" or "mediana" show up more?
"mediação" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,939 in our Portuguese list, against #20,942 for "mediana". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "mediação" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "mediana" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #33,524 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mediação" and "mediana" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mediana vs mediar". 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 #33,524 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