mi vs mui, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“mi” is a pronoun and “mui” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#3,342
“mi” frequency rank: #23,741
“mui” frequency rank: 27083
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	mi	mui
Definition	mim	em alto grau

Where the eye mixes mi and mui

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

2 ch

3 ch

mui

Visual trap between mi and mui

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: mi is /ˈmi/ while mui is /ˈmũj/. 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 (pronoun vs adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 27083, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mi is recorded at frequency rank #3,342, classified as apron, pronounced /ˈmi/. mui is at rank #23,741, tagged as anadv, pronounced /ˈmũj/.

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 27083, this pair ranks #41,939 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of mi vs mui

Shared letters: im. Private to "mi": -. Private to "mui": u.

"mi" · 2 letters · shape CV · "mui" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "mi" for "mui" ever safe?

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

Which is more common, "mi" or "mui"?

"mi" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,342 in our Portuguese list, against #23,741 for "mui". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

Full dictionary entry for "mi" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "mui" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #41,939 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"mi" and "mui" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "maa vs mui". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #41,939 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.