Which to use
“mo” is a pronoun and “moca” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #4,745
- “mo” frequency rank
- #39,266
- “moca” frequency rank
- 44011
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | mo | moca |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | combinação de me (pronome pessoal oblíquo átono) e o (pronome pessoal oblíquo átono, pronome demonstrativo masculino ou pronome demonstrativo neutro) | torpe, pasmão |
Where the eye mixes mo and moca
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses mo with moca
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: mo is /mo/ while moca is /ˈmɔ.kɐ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “mo” sits inside “moca”, and the parts of speech differ too (pronoun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44011, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
mo is recorded at frequency rank #4,745, classified as apron, pronounced /mo/. moca is at rank #39,266, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈmɔ.kɐ/.
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 44011, this pair ranks #21,542 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of mo vs moca
Shared letters: mo. Private to "mo": -. Private to "moca": ac.
"mo" · 2 letters · shape CV · "moca" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- moca ← mcoa · mmoca · moac · mocca · omca
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "mo" for "moca" ever safe?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "mo" or "moca" show up more?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "mo" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "moca" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #21,542 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "mo" and "moca" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "maa vs moca". 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 #21,542 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.