mérito vs muito, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#5,324
“mérito” frequency rank: #39
“muito” frequency rank: 5363
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	mérito	muito
Definition	conjunto de características que distinguem algo ou alguém como bom e apreciável:	em alto grau

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set mérito and muito apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch

mérito

5 ch

muito

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: mérito is /ˈmɛ.ɾi.tu/ while muito is /ˈmũj.tu/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 5363, 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/. muito is at rank #39, tagged as anadv, pronounced /ˈmũj.tu/.

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 5363, this pair ranks #69,272 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of mérito vs muito

Shared letters: imot. Private to "mérito": ré. Private to "muito": u.

"mérito" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV · "muito" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

muito ← miuto · mmuito · muiot · muitto · mutio · umito

Frequency comparison

mérito#5,324

muito#39

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "mérito" and "muito" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "mérito" is a noun and "muito" an adverb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "mérito" or "muito"?

"muito" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #39 in our Portuguese list, against #5,324 for "mérito". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering mérito vs muito

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “mérito”; for an adverb, it's “muito”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “mérito” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable