médiovsmodoWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: médio is a adjective, modo is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#994
“médio” frequency rank
#606
“modo” frequency rank
1600
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature médio modo
Definition que está a meio caminho entre dois extremos maneira, jeito

Where the eye mixes médio and modo

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
médio
4 ch
modo

Look-alike desk: médio vs modo

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: médio is /ˈmɛ.dju/ while modo is /ˈmɔ.du/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 1600, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

médio is recorded at frequency rank #994, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈmɛ.dju/. 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 1600, this pair ranks #73,938 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of médio vs modo

Shared letters: dmo. Private to "médio": . Private to "modo": -.

"médio" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV  ·  "modo" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • modomdoo · mmodo · moddo · omdo

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "médio" and "modo" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "médio" is an adjective and "modo" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "médio" vs "modo" - which ranks higher?
"modo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #606 in our Portuguese list, against #994 for "médio". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "médio" 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 #73,938 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "médio" and "modo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "modo vs muso". 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 #73,938 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