oxalá
/o.ʃɐ.ˈla/
The verdict
“oxalá” is a moderately-common Portuguese word, ranked #26,126 in Portuguese word frequency and used as an interjection.
- #26,126
- frequency rank, Portuguese
- 5
- letters
- 6
- tracked misspellings
- 6
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - exprime desejo de realização de um fato; tomara; queira Deus
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | oxalá |
| Language | Portuguese |
| Part of speech | Interjection |
| IPA | /o.ʃɐ.ˈla/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #26,126 |
| Misspellings tracked | 6 |
| Confusable pairs | 6 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “oxalá” sits in Portuguese frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The Portuguese entry for oxalá is 5 letters long, classified as an interjection, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /o.ʃɐ.ˈla/. Corpus data places it at rank #26,126 in overall Portuguese word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "exprime desejo de realização de um fato; tomara; queira Deus".
Our generated misspelling index lists 6 likely wrong-spelling variants for oxalá, with forms such as "oaxlá", "oxallá", and "oxaál". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 6 confusable-pair relationships, "olá", "oral", "orla", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
This entry's etymology isn't recorded, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. The correct Portuguese form is oxalá, spelled O-X-A-L-Á.
Definition
- 1exprime desejo de realização de um fato; tomara; queira Deus
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: oaxlá,oxallá,oxaál,oxlaá,oxxalá,xoalá
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of oxalá - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 Portuguese corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "oxalá"?
What does "oxalá" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "oxalá"?
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Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “oxalá”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct Portuguese spelling is O-X-A-L-Á - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /o.ʃɐ.ˈla/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “olá” - see the side-by-side comparison. oxalá vs olá
- Browse more Portuguese words and confusable pairs in the same reference. Portuguese words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.