abafarvsabajurWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#24,206
“abafar” frequency rank
#34,978
“abajur” frequency rank
59184
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature abafar abajur
Definition o mesmo que albafar; incenso quebra-luz, luminária que fica em cima de uma escrivaninha ou ao lado da cama

Where the eye mixes abafar and abajur

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. abafar and abajur follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
abafar
6 ch
abajur

Look-alike desk: abafar vs abajur

A purely visual mix-up. abafar (/a.ba.ˈfaɾ/) and abajur (/ɐ.ba.ˈʒuɾ/) 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 59184, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

abafar is recorded at frequency rank #24,206, classified as anoun, pronounced /a.ba.ˈfaɾ/. abajur is at rank #34,978, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ɐ.ba.ˈʒuɾ/.

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 59184, this pair ranks #8,317 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of abafar vs abajur

Shared letters: abr. Private to "abafar": f. Private to "abajur": ju.

"abafar" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVC  ·  "abajur" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • abafar ← aabfar · abaafr · abafarr · abaffar · abafra · abbafar · abfaar · baafar
  • abajur ← aabjur · abajjur · abajru · abajurr · abaujr · abbajur · abjaur · baajur

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "abafar" and "abajur" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/a.ba.ˈfaɾ/ versus /ɐ.ba.ˈʒuɾ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "abafar" or "abajur"?
"abafar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #24,206 in our Portuguese list, against #34,978 for "abajur". 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 "abafar" and "abajur" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "abafar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "abajur" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #8,317 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "abafar" and "abajur" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "abajur vs abanar". 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 #8,317 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