Which to use
“melão” and “metano” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #17,854
- “melão” frequency rank
- #25,398
- “metano” frequency rank
- 43252
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | melão | metano |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | o fruto do meloeiro, Cucumis melo | substância cujas moléculas são formadas por um átomo de carbono ligado a quatro de hidrogênio; tem fórmula CH₄ |
Where the eye mixes melão and metano
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses melão with metano
A purely visual mix-up. melão (/mɨ.ˈlɐ̃w̃/) and metano (/me.ˈtã.nu/) 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 43252, 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/. metano is at rank #25,398, tagged as anoun, pronounced /me.ˈtã.nu/.
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 43252, this pair ranks #22,406 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of melão vs metano
Shared letters: emo. Private to "melão": lã. Private to "metano": ant.
"melão" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV · "metano" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- metano ← emtano · meatno · metanno · metaon · metnao · mettano · mmetano · mteano
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "melão" and "metano" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "melão" or "metano" show up more?
After this comparison
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 "metano" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #22,406 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "melão" and "metano" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "melado vs metano". 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 #22,406 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.