vão

/ˈvɐ̃w̃/ [ˈvɐ̃ʊ̯̃]

//ˈvɐ̃w̃/ [ˈvɐ̃ʊ̯̃]/ adj

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

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
501
“V” headwords
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - vazio

Corpus desk

Index PT-vao · vão · Portuguese

vão · rank #253 · 0 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-CORE #253
  • LEN-MID 3 letters
  • VOW-1 1 vowel
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 501
  • PHOTO-FINISH preciso

Nearest frequency peer: preciso (-1 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Vizinhos de frequência do confusável “vão”

Pares de peso semelhante no corpus, aparte dos confusáveis abaixo

corpus weight

What this shows As barras situam “vão” face aos lemas portugueses mais próximos por rank, não um reprint da secretária de confusáveis.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

vão vs vi
33% similar
vão vs ver
33% similar
vão vs vez
33% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for vão
PropertyValue
Headwordvão
LanguagePortuguese
Part of speechAdjective
IPA/ˈvɐ̃w̃/ [ˈvɐ̃ʊ̯̃]
Letters3
Frequency rank#253
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Rank de corpus junto a confusáveis de “vão”

A frequência vai do punhado de palavras do dia a dia (esquerda) à cauda longa quase nunca usada (direita).vãocai aqui:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

O eixo é logarítmico: cada tick marca cerca de dez vezes menos frequência. Na mesma faixa de raridade aparecem “preciso” (#252), “água” (#254), “pois” (#251). Entre 501 lemas com “V”, “vão” fica em #253. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

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 501 “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

  1. 1
    vazio
  2. 2
    oco

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"?
"vão" is spelled V-Ã-O. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈvɐ̃w̃/ [ˈvɐ̃ʊ̯̃].
What does "vão" mean?
As an adjective, "vão" means: vazio
What words are commonly confused with "vão"?
"vão" is commonly confused with "vi", "ver", "vez". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "vão"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "vão" is /ˈvɐ̃w̃/ [ˈvɐ̃ʊ̯̃]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "vão" come from?
"vão" is a Portuguese word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar Portuguese words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "vão", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked Portuguese headwords with 3 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

mil#263pai#240num#234fim#227

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list