meiavsmocaWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: meia is a noun, moca is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#1,054
“meia” frequency rank
#39,266
“moca” frequency rank
40320
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature meia moca
Definition peça de vestuário de tecido de malha que se calça sobre a pele até meio da perna torpe, pasmão

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set meia and moca apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
meia
4 ch
moca

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: meia is /ˈmɐj.ɐ/ while moca is /ˈmɔ.kɐ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40320, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

meia is recorded at frequency rank #1,054, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈmɐj.ɐ/. moca is at rank #39,266, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈmɔ.kɐ/.

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 40320, this pair ranks #25,809 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of meia vs moca

Shared letters: am. Private to "meia": ei. Private to "moca": co.

"meia" · 4 letters · shape CVVV  ·  "moca" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • meiaemia · meai · miea · mmeia
  • mocamcoa · mmoca · moac · mocca · omca

Frequency comparison

meia#1,054
moca#39,266

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "meia" and "moca" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "meia" is a noun and "moca" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "meia" or "moca"?
"meia" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,054 in our Portuguese list, against #39,266 for "moca". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering meia vs moca

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list