abavsancaWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#15,719
“aba” frequency rank
#40,417
“anca” frequency rank
56136
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature aba anca
Definition parte saliente da beira das vestimentas, ou outros materiais de pano, para uso das pessoas, tais como vestido, paletó, toldo etc proeminência superior das coxas

Where the eye mixes aba and anca

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

3 ch
aba
4 ch
anca

Look-alike desk: aba vs anca

A purely visual mix-up. aba (/ˈa.bɐ/) and anca (/ˈɐ̃.kɐ/) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 56136, 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/. anca is at rank #40,417, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈɐ̃.kɐ/.

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 56136, this pair ranks #10,149 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of aba vs anca

Shared letters: a. Private to "aba": b. Private to "anca": cn.

"aba" · 3 letters · shape VCV  ·  "anca" · 4 letters · shape VCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • ancaanac · ancca · annca · naca

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "aba" and "anca" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/ˈa.bɐ/ versus /ˈɐ̃.kɐ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "aba" vs "anca" - which ranks higher?
"aba" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,719 in our Portuguese list, against #40,417 for "anca". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "aba" and "anca" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "aba" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "anca" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #10,149 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "aba" and "anca" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "acs vs anca". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #10,149 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