Which to use
“meio” is an adjective and “mo” is a pronoun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #190
- “meio” frequency rank
- #4,745
- “mo” frequency rank
- 4935
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | meio | mo |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | designativo de metade | combinação de me (pronome pessoal oblíquo átono) e o (pronome pessoal oblíquo átono, pronome demonstrativo masculino ou pronome demonstrativo neutro) |
Where the eye mixes meio and mo
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses meio with mo
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: meio is /ˈmɐj.u/ while mo is /mo/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs pronoun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 4935, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
meio is recorded at frequency rank #190, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈmɐj.u/. mo is at rank #4,745, tagged as apron, pronounced /mo/.
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 4935, this pair ranks #69,799 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of meio vs mo
Shared letters: mo. Private to "meio": ei. Private to "mo": -.
"meio" · 4 letters · shape CVVV · "mo" · 2 letters · shape CV
Known mistypes of this pair
- meio ← emio · meoi · mieo · mmeio
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "meio" and "mo" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "meio" or "mo"?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "meio" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "mo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #69,799 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "meio" and "mo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "maa vs mo". 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 #69,799 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.