aba vs ama, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#15,719
“aba” frequency rank: #1,454
“ama” frequency rank: 17173
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	aba	ama
Definition	parte saliente da beira das vestimentas, ou outros materiais de pano, para uso das pessoas, tais como vestido, paletó, toldo etc	mulher que amamenta filho alheio

Where the eye mixes aba and ama

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

3 ch

aba

3 ch

ama

Visual trap between aba and ama

A purely visual mix-up. aba (/ˈa.bɐ/) and ama (/ˈɐ.mɐ/) 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 a single letter - b in “aba” becomes m in “ama”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 17173, 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/. ama is at rank #1,454, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈɐ.mɐ/.

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 17173, this pair ranks #54,154 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of aba vs ama

Shared letters: a. Private to "aba": b. Private to "ama": m.

"aba" · 3 letters · shape VCV · "ama" · 3 letters · shape VCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "aba" and "ama" mean the same thing in a sentence?

No. They are said differently (/ˈa.bɐ/ versus /ˈɐ.mɐ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.

Which is more common, "aba" or "ama"?

"ama" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,454 in our Portuguese list, against #15,719 for "aba". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

Full dictionary entry for "aba" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "ama" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #54,154 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"aba" and "ama" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "aba vs acs". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #54,154 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.