méritovsmortoWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: mérito is a noun, morto is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“mérito” is a noun and “morto” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#5,324
“mérito” frequency rank
#1,096
“morto” frequency rank
6420
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mérito morto
Definition conjunto de características que distinguem algo ou alguém como bom e apreciável: que deixou de viver

Letter map: mérito vs morto

Shared letters muted; letters that set mérito and morto apart highlighted. Shared run: 4. mérito runs 6 letters (CVCVCV) against morto's 5 (CVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
mérito
5 ch
morto

Role in the sentence - mérito and morto

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: mérito is anoun and mortoanadjective. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 6420, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mérito is recorded at frequency rank #5,324, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈmɛ.ɾi.tu/. morto is at rank #1,096, tagged as anadj.

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 6420, this pair ranks #68,019 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of mérito vs morto

Shared letters: mort. Private to "mérito": ié. Private to "morto": -.

"mérito" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "morto" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • morto ← mmorto · morot · morrto · mortto · motro · mroto · omrto

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "mérito" for "morto" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "mérito" is a noun and "morto" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "mérito" vs "morto" - which ranks higher?
"morto" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,096 in our Portuguese list, against #5,324 for "mérito". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "mérito" and "morto".

  • Full dictionary entry for "mérito" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "morto" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #68,019 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mérito" and "morto" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "morto vs muto". 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 #68,019 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