abaladovsabaloTell them apart

Quick tell: abalado is a adjective, abalo is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#17,952
“abalado” frequency rank
#25,870
“abalo” frequency rank
43822
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature abalado abalo
Definition que se abalou ato ou efeito de abalar

Where the eye mixes abalado and abalo

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. abalado runs 7 letters (VCVCVCV) against abalo's 5 (VCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
abalado
5 ch
abalo

Look-alike desk: abalado vs abalo

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: abalado is /ɐ.bɐ.ˈla.du/ while abalo is /ɐ.ˈba.lu/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 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 43822, 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/. abalo is at rank #25,870, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ɐ.ˈba.lu/.

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 43822, this pair ranks #21,761 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of abalado vs abalo

Shared letters: ablo. Private to "abalado": d. Private to "abalo": -.

"abalado" · 7 letters · shape VCVCVCV  ·  "abalo" · 5 letters · shape VCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • abalado ← aablado · abaaldo · abaladdo · abalaod · abaldao · aballado · abbalado · ablaado
  • abalo ← aablo · aballo · abaol · abbalo · ablao · baalo

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "abalado" and "abalo" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "abalado" is an adjective and "abalo" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "abalado" or "abalo" show up more?
"abalado" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,952 in our Portuguese list, against #25,870 for "abalo". 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 "abalado" and "abalo" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "abalado" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "abalo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #21,761 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "abalado" and "abalo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "abalo vs alado". 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 #21,761 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