abafado vs abafar, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“abafado” is an adjective and “abafar” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#28,425
“abafado” frequency rank: #24,206
“abafar” frequency rank: 52631
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	abafado	abafar
Definition	que sofreu do ato de abafar	o mesmo que albafar; incenso

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set abafado and abafar apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch

abafado

6 ch

abafar

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: abafado is /a.ba.ˈfa.du/ while abafar is /a.ba.ˈfaɾ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 52631, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

abafado is recorded at frequency rank #28,425, classified as anadj, pronounced /a.ba.ˈfa.du/. abafar is at rank #24,206, tagged as anoun, pronounced /a.ba.ˈfaɾ/.

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 52631, this pair ranks #12,624 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of abafado vs abafar

Shared letters: abf. Private to "abafado": do. Private to "abafar": r.

"abafado" · 7 letters · shape VCVCVCV · "abafar" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

abafado ← aabfado · abaafdo · abafaddo · abafaod · abafdao · abaffado · abbafado · abfaado
abafar ← aabfar · abaafr · abafarr · abaffar · abafra · abbafar · abfaar · baafar

Frequency comparison

abafado#28,425

abafar#24,206

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "abafado" and "abafar" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "abafado" is an adjective and "abafar" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "abafado" or "abafar"?

"abafar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #24,206 in our Portuguese list, against #28,425 for "abafado". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering abafado vs abafar

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “abafado”; for a noun, it's “abafar”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “abafado” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable