Which to use
“menos” is an adjective and “mente” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #149
- “menos” frequency rank
- #990
- “mente” frequency rank
- 1139
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | menos | mente |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | forma comparativa de pouco; quantidade inferior de: | conjunto das ideias e convicções de uma pessoa; o resultado do trabalho cerebral de uma pessoal, intangível mas perceptível em sua forma de raciocinar |
Where the eye mixes menos and mente
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between menos and mente
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: menos is /ˈme.nʊs/ while mente is /ˈmẽ.t͡ʃi/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 1139, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
menos is recorded at frequency rank #149, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈme.nʊs/. mente is at rank #990, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈmẽ.t͡ʃi/.
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 1139, this pair ranks #74,478 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of menos vs mente
Shared letters: emn. Private to "menos": os. Private to "mente": t.
"menos" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "mente" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "menos" for "mente" ever safe?
Frequency check: "menos" vs "mente" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "menos" and "mente" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "menos" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "mente" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #74,478 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "menos" and "mente" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mens vs mente". 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 #74,478 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.