abavsavalWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#15,719
“aba” frequency rank
#16,685
“aval” frequency rank
32404
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature aba aval
Definition parte saliente da beira das vestimentas, ou outros materiais de pano, para uso das pessoas, tais como vestido, paletó, toldo etc garantia de pagamento de um determinado título de crédito

Where the eye mixes aba and aval

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

3 ch
aba
4 ch
aval

Look-alike desk: aba vs aval

A purely visual mix-up. aba (/ˈa.bɐ/) and aval (/ɐ.ˈvaɫ/) 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 32404, 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/. aval is at rank #16,685, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ɐ.ˈvaɫ/.

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 32404, this pair ranks #35,423 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of aba vs aval

Shared letters: a. Private to "aba": b. Private to "aval": lv.

"aba" · 3 letters · shape VCV  ·  "aval" · 4 letters · shape VCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • avalaavl · avall · avval

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "aba" for "aval" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ˈa.bɐ/ versus /ɐ.ˈvaɫ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "aba" or "aval"?
"aba" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,719 in our Portuguese list, against #16,685 for "aval". 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 "aval" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #35,423 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "aba" and "aval" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "aba vs acs". 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 #35,423 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