Which to use
“abort” and “abra” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #20,277
- “abort” frequency rank
- #42,507
- “abra” frequency rank
- 62784
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | abort | abra |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | An early termination of a mission, action, or procedure in relation to missiles or spacecraft; the craft making such a mission. | a narrow mountain or mesa pass |
Where the eye mixes abort and abra
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. abort runs 5 letters (VCVCC) against abra's 4 (VCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between abort and abra
A purely visual mix-up. abort (/əˈbɔːt/) and abra (/ˈæbɹə/) 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 62784, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
abort is recorded at frequency rank #20,277, classified as anoun, pronounced /əˈbɔːt/. abra is at rank #42,507, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈæbɹə/.
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 62784, this pair ranks #86,547 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of abort vs abra
Shared letters: abr. Private to "abort": ot. Private to "abra": -.
"abort" · 5 letters · shape VCVCC · "abra" · 4 letters · shape VCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "abort" and "abra" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "abort" or "abra"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "abort" and "abra" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "abort" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "abra" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #86,547 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "abort" and "abra" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "abra vs Asta". 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 #86,547 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.