moderarvsmodernoWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: moderar is a verb, moderno is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“moderar” is a verb and “moderno” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#39,750
“moderar” frequency rank
#3,217
“moderno” frequency rank
42967
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature moderar moderno
Definition regular com moderação; regrar relativo ao passado mais próximo ou à atualidade:

Letter map: moderar vs moderno

Shared letters muted; letters that set moderar and moderno apart highlighted. Shared run: 5. moderar (CVCVCVC) and moderno (CVCVCCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

7 ch
moderar
7 ch
moderno

Role in the sentence - moderar and moderno

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: moderar is averb and modernoanadjective. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42967, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

moderar is recorded at frequency rank #39,750, classified as averb. moderno is at rank #3,217, tagged as anadj.

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 42967, this pair ranks #22,730 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of moderar vs moderno

Shared letters: demor. Private to "moderar": a. Private to "moderno": n.

"moderar" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC  ·  "moderno" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • moderar ← mdoerar · mmoderar · modderar · modearr · moderarr · moderra · moderrar · modrear
  • moderno ← mdoerno · mmoderno · modderno · modenro · modernno · moderon · moderrno · modreno

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "moderar" and "moderno" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "moderar" is a verb and "moderno" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "moderar" or "moderno"?
"moderno" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,217 in our Portuguese list, against #39,750 for "moderar". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Pair "moderar" vs "moderno" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "moderar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "moderno" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #22,730 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "moderar" and "moderno" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "modelar vs moderar". 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 #22,730 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