Which to use
“melão” and “molho” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #17,854
- “melão” frequency rank
- #5,444
- “molho” frequency rank
- 23298
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | melão | molho |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | o fruto do meloeiro, Cucumis melo | feixe pequeno |
Where the eye mixes melão and molho
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses melão with molho
A purely visual mix-up. melão (/mɨ.ˈlɐ̃w̃/) and molho (/ˈmɔ.ʎu/) 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 23298, 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/. molho is at rank #5,444, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈmɔ.ʎu/.
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 23298, this pair ranks #46,552 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of melão vs molho
Shared letters: lmo. Private to "melão": eã. Private to "molho": h.
"melão" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV · "molho" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- molho ← mloho · mmolho · mohlo · molhho · mollho · moloh · omlho
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "melão" and "molho" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "melão" or "molho" show up more?
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 "molho" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #46,552 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "melão" and "molho" 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 #46,552 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.