Which to use
“abalar” and “abarcar” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #16,655
- “abalar” frequency rank
- #43,732
- “abarcar” frequency rank
- 60387
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | abalar | abarcar |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | fazer tremer ou oscilar | abranger |
Where the eye mixes abalar and abarcar
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. abalar runs 6 letters (VCVCVC) against abarcar's 7 (VCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between abalar and abarcar
A purely visual mix-up. abalar (/ɐ.bɐ.ˈlaɾ/) and abarcar (/ɐ.bɐɾ.ˈkaɾ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 60387, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
abalar is recorded at frequency rank #16,655, classified as averb, pronounced /ɐ.bɐ.ˈlaɾ/. abarcar is at rank #43,732, tagged as averb, pronounced /ɐ.bɐɾ.ˈkaɾ/.
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 60387, this pair ranks #7,680 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of abalar vs abarcar
Shared letters: abr. Private to "abalar": l. Private to "abarcar": c.
"abalar" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVC · "abarcar" · 7 letters · shape VCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "abalar" and "abarcar" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "abalar" or "abarcar" show up more?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "abalar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "abarcar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #7,680 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "abalar" and "abarcar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "abarcar vs aparar". 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 #7,680 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.