micavsmiraConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#32,689
“mica” frequency rank
#7,185
“mira” frequency rank
39874
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mica mira
Definition mineral do grupo de silicatos monoclínicos ato ou efeito de mirar

Where the eye mixes mica and mira

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

4 ch
mica
4 ch
mira

Visual trap between mica and mira

A purely visual mix-up. mica (/ˈmi.kɐ/) and mira (/ˈmi.ɾɐ/) 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 a single letter - c in “mica” becomes r in “mira”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39874, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mica is recorded at frequency rank #32,689, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈmi.kɐ/. mira is at rank #7,185, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈmi.ɾɐ/.

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 39874, this pair ranks #26,312 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of mica vs mira

Shared letters: aim. Private to "mica": c. Private to "mira": r.

"mica" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "mira" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • micaimca · mcia · miac · micca · mmica
  • miraimra · miar · mmira · mria

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "mica" for "mira" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ˈmi.kɐ/ versus /ˈmi.ɾɐ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "mica" vs "mira" - which ranks higher?
"mira" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,185 in our Portuguese list, against #32,689 for "mica". 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 "mica" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "mira" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #26,312 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mica" and "mira" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mica vs mirra". 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 #26,312 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