mobilidadevsmodalidadeWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#5,656
“mobilidade” frequency rank
#5,554
“modalidade” frequency rank
11210
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature mobilidade modalidade
Definition capacidade de se mover modo, maneira

Where the eye mixes mobilidade and modalidade

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. mobilidade and modalidade follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCVCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

10 ch
mobilidade
10 ch
modalidade

Why the eye confuses mobilidade with modalidade

A purely visual mix-up. mobilidade (/mu.bɨ.li.ˈda.dɨ/) and modalidade (/mu.dɐ.li.ˈda.dɨ/) 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 11210, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

mobilidade is recorded at frequency rank #5,656, classified as anoun, pronounced /mu.bɨ.li.ˈda.dɨ/. modalidade is at rank #5,554, tagged as anoun, pronounced /mu.dɐ.li.ˈda.dɨ/.

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 11210, this pair ranks #61,696 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of mobilidade vs modalidade

Shared letters: adeilmo. Private to "mobilidade": b. Private to "modalidade": -.

"mobilidade" · 10 letters · shape CVCVCVCVCV  ·  "modalidade" · 10 letters · shape CVCVCVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • mobilidade ← mboilidade · mmobilidade · mobbilidade · mobiildade · mobildiade · mobiliadde · mobilidadde · mobilidaed
  • modalidade ← mdoalidade · mmodalidade · moadlidade · modaildade · modaldiade · modaliadde · modalidadde · modalidaed

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "mobilidade" and "modalidade" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/mu.bɨ.li.ˈda.dɨ/ versus /mu.dɐ.li.ˈda.dɨ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "mobilidade" vs "modalidade" - which ranks higher?
"modalidade" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,554 in our Portuguese list, against #5,656 for "mobilidade". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "mobilidade" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "modalidade" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #61,696 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "mobilidade" and "modalidade" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mobilidade vs moralidade". 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 #61,696 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