Which to use
“mente” and “menu” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #990
- “mente” frequency rank
- #12,288
- “menu” frequency rank
- 13278
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | mente | menu |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | conjunto das ideias e convicções de uma pessoa; o resultado do trabalho cerebral de uma pessoal, intangível mas perceptível em sua forma de raciocinar | cardápio |
Where the eye mixes mente and menu
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses mente with menu
A purely visual mix-up. mente (/ˈmẽ.t͡ʃi/) and menu (/mɨ.ˈnu/) 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 13278, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
mente is recorded at frequency rank #990, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈmẽ.t͡ʃi/. menu is at rank #12,288, tagged as anoun, pronounced /mɨ.ˈnu/.
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 13278, this pair ranks #59,131 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of mente vs menu
Shared letters: emn. Private to "mente": t. Private to "menu": u.
"mente" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "menu" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "mente" and "menu" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "mente" vs "menu" - which ranks higher?
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 "mente" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "menu" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #59,131 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "mente" and "menu" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mens vs menu". 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 #59,131 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.