abafarvsapagarTell them apart

Quick tell: abafar is a noun, apagar is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#24,206
“abafar” frequency rank
#4,285
“apagar” frequency rank
28491
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature abafar apagar
Definition o mesmo que albafar; incenso fazer desaparecer (raspando, etc.)

Letter map: abafar vs apagar

Shared letters muted; letters that set abafar and apagar apart highlighted. Shared run: 4. abafar and apagar 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
apagar

Role in the sentence - abafar and apagar

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: abafar is anoun and apagaraverb. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 28491, 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/. apagar is at rank #4,285, tagged as averb.

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 28491, this pair ranks #40,320 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of abafar vs apagar

Shared letters: ar. Private to "abafar": bf. Private to "apagar": gp.

"abafar" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVC  ·  "apagar" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • abafar ← aabfar · abaafr · abafarr · abaffar · abafra · abbafar · abfaar · baafar
  • apagar ← aapgar · apaagr · apagarr · apaggar · apagra · apgaar · appagar · paagar

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "abafar" for "apagar" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "abafar" is a noun and "apagar" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "abafar" or "apagar"?
"apagar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,285 in our Portuguese list, against #24,206 for "abafar". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "abafar" and "apagar".

  • Full dictionary entry for "abafar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "apagar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #40,320 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "abafar" and "apagar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "abafar vs abarcar". 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 #40,320 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