mortovsmutoWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: morto is a adjective, muto is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#1,096
“morto” frequency rank
#43,549
“muto” frequency rank
44645
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature morto muto
Definition que deixou de viver mudar algo de sítio, remover.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set morto and muto apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
morto
4 ch
muto

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: morto is anadjective and mutoaverb. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44645, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

morto is recorded at frequency rank #1,096, classified as anadj. muto is at rank #43,549, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈmuː.toː/.

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 44645, this pair ranks #20,803 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of morto vs muto

Shared letters: mot. Private to "morto": r. Private to "muto": u.

"morto" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "muto" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • mortommorto · morot · morrto · mortto · motro · mroto · omrto
  • mutommuto · mtuo · muot · mutto · umto

Frequency comparison

morto#1,096
muto#43,549

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "morto" and "muto" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "morto" is an adjective and "muto" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "morto" or "muto"?
"morto" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,096 in our Portuguese list, against #43,549 for "muto". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering morto vs muto

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “morto”; for a verb, it's “muto”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “morto” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list