muito vs muto, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#39
“muito” frequency rank: #43,549
“muto” frequency rank: 43588
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	muito	muto
Definition	em alto grau	mudar algo de sítio, remover.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set muito and muto apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch

muito

4 ch

muto

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: muito is /ˈmũj.tu/ while muto is /ˈmuː.toː/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adverb vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43588, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

muito is recorded at frequency rank #39, classified as anadv, pronounced /ˈmũj.tu/. 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 43588, this pair ranks #22,037 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of muito vs muto

Shared letters: motu. Private to "muito": i. Private to "muto": -.

"muito" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV · "muto" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

muito ← miuto · mmuito · muiot · muitto · mutio · umito
muto ← mmuto · mtuo · muot · mutto · umto

Frequency comparison

muito#39

muto#43,549

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "muito" and "muto" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "muito" is an adverb and "muto" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "muito" or "muto"?

"muito" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #39 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 muito vs muto

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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