micavsmodaWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#32,689
“mica” frequency rank
#2,154
“moda” frequency rank
34843
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mica moda
Definition mineral do grupo de silicatos monoclínicos uso passageiro que regula, de acordo com o gosto do momento, a forma de viver, de vestir, etc

Where the eye mixes mica and moda

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

4 ch
mica
4 ch
moda

Why the eye confuses mica with moda

A purely visual mix-up. mica (/ˈmi.kɐ/) and moda (/ˈmɔ.dɐ/) 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 34843, 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/. moda is at rank #2,154, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈmɔ.dɐ/.

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 34843, this pair ranks #32,330 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of mica vs moda

Shared letters: am. Private to "mica": ci. Private to "moda": do.

"mica" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "moda" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • micaimca · mcia · miac · micca · mmica
  • modamdoa · mmoda · moad · modda · omda

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "mica" for "moda" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ˈmi.kɐ/ versus /ˈmɔ.dɐ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "mica" or "moda"?
"moda" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,154 in our Portuguese list, against #32,689 for "mica". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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 "moda" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #32,330 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mica" and "moda" 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 #32,330 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