abalarvsapararWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#16,655
“abalar” frequency rank
#40,423
“aparar” frequency rank
57078
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature abalar aparar
Definition fazer tremer ou oscilar segurar ou apanhar algo em queda ou atirado; parar golpe:

Letter map: abalar vs aparar

Shared letters muted; letters that set abalar and aparar apart highlighted. Shared run: 4.

6 ch
abalar
6 ch
aparar

Spelling & dictionary notes on abalar vs aparar

abalar and aparar are indexed as a confusable Portuguese pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 57078, 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/. aparar is at rank #40,423, 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 57078, this pair ranks #9,555 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of abalar vs aparar

Shared letters: ar. Private to "abalar": bl. Private to "aparar": p.

"abalar" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVC  ·  "aparar" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • abalaraablar · abaalr · abalarr · aballar · abalra · abbalar · ablaar · baalar
  • apararaaprar · apaarr · apararr · aparra · aparrar · apparar · apraar · paarar

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "abalar" and "aparar" be used interchangeably?
No. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Frequency check: "abalar" vs "aparar" - which ranks higher?
"abalar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #16,655 in our Portuguese list, against #40,423 for "aparar". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "abalar" and "aparar".

  • Full dictionary entry for "abalar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "aparar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #9,555 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "abalar" and "aparar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "aparar vs arar". 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 #9,555 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