metrovsmotoTell them apart

Which to use

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

#4,246
“metro” frequency rank
#3,422
“moto” frequency rank
7668
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature metro moto
Definition medida que regula a quantidade de sílabas de cada verso ato ou efeito de mover; movimento

Where the eye mixes metro and moto

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
metro
4 ch
moto

Visual trap between metro and moto

A purely visual mix-up. metro (/ˈmɛ.tɾu/) and moto (/ˈmɔ.tu/) 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 7668, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

metro is recorded at frequency rank #4,246, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈmɛ.tɾu/. moto is at rank #3,422, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈmɔ.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 7668, this pair ranks #66,423 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of metro vs moto

Shared letters: mot. Private to "metro": er. Private to "moto": -.

"metro" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "moto" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • metroemtro · merto · metor · metrro · mettro · mmetro · mtero
  • motommoto · moot · motto · mtoo · omto

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "metro" and "moto" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈmɛ.tɾu/ versus /ˈmɔ.tu/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "metro" or "moto" show up more?
"moto" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,422 in our Portuguese list, against #4,246 for "metro". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "metro" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "moto" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #66,423 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "metro" and "moto" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "moto 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 #66,423 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