abavsacsWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“aba” and “acs” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#15,719
“aba” frequency rank
#49,775
“acs” frequency rank
65494
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature aba acs
Definition parte saliente da beira das vestimentas, ou outros materiais de pano, para uso das pessoas, tais como vestido, paletó, toldo etc olho (órgão da visão)

Where the eye mixes aba and acs

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence. aba (VCV) and acs (VCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

3 ch
aba
3 ch
acs

Look-alike desk: aba vs acs

A purely visual mix-up. aba (/ˈa.bɐ/) and acs ([ats]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 65494, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

aba is recorded at frequency rank #15,719, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈa.bɐ/. acs is at rank #49,775, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ats].

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 65494, this pair ranks #5,352 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of aba vs acs

Shared letters: a. Private to "aba": b. Private to "acs": cs.

"aba" · 3 letters · shape VCV  ·  "acs" · 3 letters · shape VCC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "aba" and "acs" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈa.bɐ/ versus [ats]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "aba" or "acs" show up more?
"aba" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,719 in our Portuguese list, against #49,775 for "acs". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "aba" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "acs" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #5,352 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "aba" and "acs" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "acs vs ASC". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #5,352 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list