abalado vs abalar, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“abalado” is an adjective and “abalar” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#17,952
“abalado” frequency rank: #16,655
“abalar” frequency rank: 34607
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	abalado	abalar
Definition	que se abalou	fazer tremer ou oscilar

Where the spellings diverge

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

7 ch

abalado

6 ch

abalar

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: abalado is /ɐ.bɐ.ˈla.du/ while abalar is /ɐ.bɐ.ˈlaɾ/. 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 verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34607, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

abalado is recorded at frequency rank #17,952, classified as anadj, pronounced /ɐ.bɐ.ˈla.du/. abalar is at rank #16,655, tagged as averb, pronounced /ɐ.bɐ.ˈlaɾ/.

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 34607, this pair ranks #32,610 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of abalado vs abalar

Shared letters: abl. Private to "abalado": do. Private to "abalar": r.

"abalado" · 7 letters · shape VCVCVCV · "abalar" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

abalado ← aablado · abaaldo · abaladdo · abalaod · abaldao · aballado · abbalado · ablaado
abalar ← aablar · abaalr · abalarr · aballar · abalra · abbalar · ablaar · baalar

Frequency comparison

abalado#17,952

abalar#16,655

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "abalado" and "abalar" be used interchangeably?

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

Which is more common, "abalado" or "abalar"?

"abalar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #16,655 in our Portuguese list, against #17,952 for "abalado". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering abalado vs abalar

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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