abalovsaboConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#25,870
“abalo” frequency rank
#39,944
“abo” frequency rank
65814
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature abalo abo
Definition ato ou efeito de abalar aborígene, nativo australiano

Where the eye mixes abalo and abo

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. abalo runs 5 letters (VCVCV) against abo's 3 (VCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
abalo
3 ch
abo

Visual trap between abalo and abo

A purely visual mix-up. abalo (/ɐ.ˈba.lu/) and abo (/ˈæb.əʉ/) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 65814, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

abalo is recorded at frequency rank #25,870, classified as anoun, pronounced /ɐ.ˈba.lu/. abo is at rank #39,944, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈæb.əʉ/.

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 65814, this pair ranks #5,232 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of abalo vs abo

Shared letters: abo. Private to "abalo": l. Private to "abo": -.

"abalo" · 5 letters · shape VCVCV  ·  "abo" · 3 letters · shape VCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • abaloaablo · aballo · abaol · abbalo · ablao · baalo

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "abalo" and "abo" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/ɐ.ˈba.lu/ versus /ˈæb.əʉ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "abalo" or "abo" show up more?
"abalo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #25,870 in our Portuguese list, against #39,944 for "abo". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "abalo" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "abo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #5,232 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "abalo" and "abo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "abo vs acs". 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 #5,232 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