Which to use
“monção” is a noun and “mourão” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #38,382
- “monção” frequency rank
- #15,627
- “mourão” frequency rank
- 54009
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | monção | mourão |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | 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 | muito morena ou moreno, muito mouro |
Where the eye mixes monção and mourão
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. monção (CVCCVV) and mourão (CVVCVV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Visual trap between monção and mourão
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: monção is /mõ.ˈsãw/ while mourão is /mou.'ɾaŋ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 54009, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
monção is recorded at frequency rank #38,382, classified as anoun, pronounced /mõ.ˈsãw/. mourão is at rank #15,627, tagged as anadj, pronounced /mou.'ɾaŋ/.
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 54009, this pair ranks #11,622 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of monção vs mourão
Shared letters: moã. Private to "monção": nç. Private to "mourão": ru.
"monção" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV · "mourão" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVV
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "monção" and "mourão" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "monção" or "mourão" show up more?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "monção" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "mourão" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #11,622 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "monção" and "mourão" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "monção vs monja". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #11,622 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.