MelovsmodeloTell them apart

Which to use

“Melo” and “modelo” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#4,570
“Melo” frequency rank
#871
“modelo” frequency rank
5441
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Melo modelo
Definition sobrenome cópia de algo em tamanho bem menor que o original

Where the eye mixes Melo and modelo

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

4 ch
Melo
6 ch
modelo

Visual trap between Melo and modelo

A purely visual mix-up. Melo (/ˈmɛ.lu/) and modelo (/mu.ˈde.lu/) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 5441, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Melo is recorded at frequency rank #4,570, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈmɛ.lu/. modelo is at rank #871, tagged as anoun, pronounced /mu.ˈde.lu/.

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 5441, this pair ranks #69,178 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Melo vs modelo

Shared letters: elmo. Private to "Melo": -. Private to "modelo": d.

"Melo" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "modelo" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Meloemlo · mello · meol · mleo · mmelo
  • modelomdoelo · mmodelo · moddelo · modello · modeol · modleo · moedlo · omdelo

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Melo" for "modelo" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ˈmɛ.lu/ versus /mu.ˈde.lu/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Melo" or "modelo"?
"modelo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #871 in our Portuguese list, against #4,570 for "Melo". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "Melo" and "modelo" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Melo" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "modelo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #69,178 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Melo" and "modelo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Melo vs muso". 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 #69,178 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list