modovsMoonConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#606
“modo” frequency rank
#9,893
“Moon” frequency rank
10499
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature modo Moon
Definition maneira, jeito Lua

Where the eye mixes modo and Moon

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

4 ch
modo
4 ch
Moon

Why the eye confuses modo with Moon

A purely visual mix-up. modo (/ˈmɔ.du/) and Moon (/mu:n/ ouvir^(fonte ?)) 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 10499, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

modo is recorded at frequency rank #606, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈmɔ.du/. Moon is at rank #9,893, tagged as anoun, pronounced /mu:n/ ouvir^(fonte ?).

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 10499, this pair ranks #62,587 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of modo vs Moon

Shared letters: mo. Private to "modo": d. Private to "Moon": n.

"modo" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "Moon" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • modomdoo · mmodo · moddo · omdo
  • Moonmmoon · mon · moonn · omon

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "modo" for "Moon" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ˈmɔ.du/ versus /mu:n/ ouvir^(fonte ?)) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "modo" or "Moon"?
"modo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #606 in our Portuguese list, against #9,893 for "Moon". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "modo" and "Moon" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "modo" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Moon" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #62,587 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "modo" and "Moon" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mogno vs Moon". 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 #62,587 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