Which to use
“melão” and “metal” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #17,854
- “melão” frequency rank
- #3,027
- “metal” frequency rank
- 20881
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | melão | metal |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | o fruto do meloeiro, Cucumis melo | toda substância simples, dotada de brilho próprio (brilho metálico), boa condutora de calor e de eletricidade, que forma óxidos básicos em contato com o oxigênio, e que na eletrólise se dirige ao pólo negativo |
Where the eye mixes melão and metal
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. melão (CVCVV) and metal (CVCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Look-alike desk: melão vs metal
A purely visual mix-up. melão (/mɨ.ˈlɐ̃w̃/) and metal (/mɨ.ˈtaɫ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 20881, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
melão is recorded at frequency rank #17,854, classified as anoun, pronounced /mɨ.ˈlɐ̃w̃/. metal is at rank #3,027, tagged as anoun, pronounced /mɨ.ˈtaɫ/.
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 20881, this pair ranks #49,527 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of melão vs metal
Shared letters: elm. Private to "melão": oã. Private to "metal": at.
"melão" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV · "metal" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- metal ← emtal · meatl · metall · metla · mettal · mmetal · mteal
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "melão" and "metal" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "melão" or "metal"?
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 "melão" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "metal" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #49,527 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "melão" and "metal" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "melado vs melão". 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 #49,527 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.