moçãovsmofoConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#13,980
“moção” frequency rank
#29,442
“mofo” frequency rank
43422
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature moção mofo
Definition ato ou efeito de mover espécie de fungo de tamanho pequeno que coloniza a matéria orgânica rica em nutrientes, têm um micélio filamentoso e enramado que é a forma macroscópica visível como borra ou pelo

Where the eye mixes moção and mofo

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. moção runs 5 letters (CVCVV) against mofo's 4 (CVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
moção
4 ch
mofo

Visual trap between moção and mofo

A purely visual mix-up. moção (/mu.ˈsɐ̃w̃/) and mofo (/ˈmo.fu/) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43422, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

moção is recorded at frequency rank #13,980, classified as anoun, pronounced /mu.ˈsɐ̃w̃/. mofo is at rank #29,442, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈmo.fu/.

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 43422, this pair ranks #22,215 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of moção vs mofo

Shared letters: mo. Private to "moção": ãç. Private to "mofo": f.

"moção" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV  ·  "mofo" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • mofo ← mfoo · mmofo · moffo · moof · omfo

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "moção" and "mofo" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/mu.ˈsɐ̃w̃/ versus /ˈmo.fu/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "moção" or "mofo" show up more?
"moção" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,980 in our Portuguese list, against #29,442 for "mofo". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "moção" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "mofo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #22,215 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "moção" and "mofo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mofo vs muso". 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 #22,215 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