vão
/ˈvɐ̃w̃/ [ˈvɐ̃ʊ̯̃]
The verdict
“vão” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #253) as an adjective. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.
- #253
- frequency rank, Portuguese
- 1,073
- “V” headwords
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - vazio
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 | vão |
| Language | Portuguese |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ˈvɐ̃w̃/ [ˈvɐ̃ʊ̯̃] |
| Letters | 3 |
| Frequency rank | #253 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “vão” sits in Portuguese frequency
Easy to mix with look-alikes
The spelling risk for vão is neighbouring look-alikes ("vi", "ver", …), not just typos; it is anadjective pronounced /ˈvɐ̃w̃/ [ˈvɐ̃ʊ̯̃]. Frequency #253 among 1,073 “V” headwords. 2 recorded senses keep meaning in play.
Zero misspellings are on record for vão in our index, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "vi", "ver", "vez", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct Portuguese form is vão, spelled V-Ã-O.
Definition
- 1vazio
- 2oco
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 "vão"?
What does "vão" mean?
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Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “vão”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct Portuguese spelling is V-Ã-O - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈvɐ̃w̃/ [ˈvɐ̃ʊ̯̃] (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “vi” - see the side-by-side comparison. vão vs vi
- Browse more Portuguese words and confusable pairs in the same reference. Portuguese words
Words at a similar Portuguese frequency
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.