moçãovsmonçãoWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#13,980
“moção” frequency rank
#38,382
“monção” frequency rank
52362
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature moção monção
Definition ato ou efeito de mover ventos sazonais que ocorrem em grandes áreas das regiões costeiras tropicais e subtropicais, em geral associados à alternância entre a estação das chuvas e a estação seca

Where the eye mixes moção and monção

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

5 ch
moção
6 ch
monção

Visual trap between moção and monção

A purely visual mix-up. moção (/mu.ˈsɐ̃w̃/) and monção (/mõ.ˈsãw/) 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 52362, 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/. monção is at rank #38,382, tagged as anoun, pronounced /mõ.ˈsãw/.

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 52362, this pair ranks #12,812 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of moção vs monção

Shared letters: moãç. Private to "moção": -. Private to "monção": n.

"moção" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV  ·  "monção" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "moção" for "monção" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/mu.ˈsɐ̃w̃/ versus /mõ.ˈsãw/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "moção" vs "monção" - which ranks higher?
"moção" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,980 in our Portuguese list, against #38,382 for "monção". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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 "monção" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #12,812 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "moção" and "monção" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "monção vs monja". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #12,812 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