meuvsmoiConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#46
“meu” frequency rank
#20,946
“moi” frequency rank
20992
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature meu moi
Definition de posse da primeira pessoa do singular (eu); pertencente a mim mim, eu, pronome pessoal tónico da primeira pessoa do singular:

Where the eye mixes meu and moi

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence. meu and moi follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

3 ch
meu
3 ch
moi

Why the eye confuses meu with moi

A purely visual mix-up. meu (/ˈmew/) and moi (/mwa/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 20992, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

meu is recorded at frequency rank #46, classified as apron, pronounced /ˈmew/. moi is at rank #20,946, tagged as apron, pronounced /mwa/.

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 20992, this pair ranks #49,381 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of meu vs moi

Shared letters: m. Private to "meu": eu. Private to "moi": io.

"meu" · 3 letters · shape CVV  ·  "moi" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "meu" for "moi" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ˈmew/ versus /mwa/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "meu" or "moi"?
"meu" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #46 in our Portuguese list, against #20,946 for "moi". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "meu" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "moi" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #49,381 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "meu" and "moi" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "maa vs moi". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #49,381 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