moitavsmostraWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#23,053
“moita” frequency rank
#772
“mostra” frequency rank
23825
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature moita mostra
Definition arbusto espesso exemplo, espécime

Where the eye mixes moita and mostra

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. moita runs 5 letters (CVVCV) against mostra's 6 (CVCCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
moita
6 ch
mostra

Look-alike desk: moita vs mostra

A purely visual mix-up. moita (/ˈmoj.tɐ/) and mostra (/ˈmɔʃ.tɾɐ/) 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 23825, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

moita is recorded at frequency rank #23,053, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈmoj.tɐ/. mostra is at rank #772, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈmɔʃ.tɾɐ/.

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 23825, this pair ranks #45,921 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of moita vs mostra

Shared letters: amot. Private to "moita": i. Private to "mostra": rs.

"moita" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV  ·  "mostra" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • moita ← miota · mmoita · moiat · moitta · motia · omita
  • mostra ← mmostra · mosrta · mosstra · mostar · mosttra · motsra · msotra · omstra

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "moita" for "mostra" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ˈmoj.tɐ/ versus /ˈmɔʃ.tɾɐ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "moita" or "mostra"?
"mostra" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #772 in our Portuguese list, against #23,053 for "moita". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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 "moita" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "mostra" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #45,921 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "moita" and "mostra" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "moita vs morsa". 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 #45,921 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