molequevsmolequesWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: moleque is a adjective, moleques is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“moleque” is an adjective and “moleques” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#13,792
“moleque” frequency rank
#37,016
“moleques” frequency rank
50808
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature moleque moleques
Definition pilhérico, engraçado, divertido plural de moleque

Where the eye mixes moleque and moleques

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.

7 ch
moleque
8 ch
moleques

Visual trap between moleque and moleques

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: moleque is /mu.ˈlɛ.kɨ/ while moleques is /mo.ˈlɛ.kɪs/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “moleque” sits inside “moleques”, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50808, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

moleque is recorded at frequency rank #13,792, classified as anadj, pronounced /mu.ˈlɛ.kɨ/. moleques is at rank #37,016, tagged as anoun, pronounced /mo.ˈlɛ.kɪs/.

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 50808, this pair ranks #14,145 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of moleque vs moleques

Shared letters: elmoqu. Private to "moleque": -. Private to "moleques": s.

"moleque" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVV  ·  "moleques" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • molequemloeque · mmoleque · moelque · moleqeu · moleqque · moleuqe · molleque · molqeue
  • molequesmloeques · mmoleques · moelques · moleqeus · moleqques · molequess · molequse · moleuqes

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "moleque" for "moleques" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "moleque" is an adjective and "moleques" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "moleque" or "moleques"?
"moleque" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,792 in our Portuguese list, against #37,016 for "moleques". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "moleque" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "moleques" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #14,145 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • 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 #14,145 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