Which to use
“melão” and “moção” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #17,854
- “melão” frequency rank
- #13,980
- “moção” frequency rank
- 31834
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | melão | moção |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | o fruto do meloeiro, Cucumis melo | ato ou efeito de mover |
Where the eye mixes melão and moção
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. melão and moção follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: melão vs moção
A purely visual mix-up. melão (/mɨ.ˈlɐ̃w̃/) and moção (/mu.ˈsɐ̃w̃/) 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 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 31834, 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/. moção is at rank #13,980, tagged as anoun, pronounced /mu.ˈsɐ̃w̃/.
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 31834, this pair ranks #36,134 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of melão vs moção
Shared letters: moã. Private to "melão": el. Private to "moção": ç.
"melão" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV · "moção" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "melão" for "moção" ever safe?
Which is more common, "melão" or "moção"?
Useful next steps
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 "moção" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #36,134 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "melão" and "moção" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "melado vs melão". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #36,134 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.