abalovsavalTell them apart

Which to use

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

#25,870
“abalo” frequency rank
#16,685
“aval” frequency rank
42555
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature abalo aval
Definition ato ou efeito de abalar garantia de pagamento de um determinado título de crédito

Where the eye mixes abalo and aval

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. abalo runs 5 letters (VCVCV) against aval's 4 (VCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
abalo
4 ch
aval

Visual trap between abalo and aval

A purely visual mix-up. abalo (/ɐ.ˈba.lu/) and aval (/ɐ.ˈvaɫ/) 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 42555, 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/. aval is at rank #16,685, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ɐ.ˈvaɫ/.

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 42555, this pair ranks #23,208 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of abalo vs aval

Shared letters: al. Private to "abalo": bo. Private to "aval": v.

"abalo" · 5 letters · shape VCVCV  ·  "aval" · 4 letters · shape VCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • abaloaablo · aballo · abaol · abbalo · ablao · baalo
  • avalaavl · avall · avval

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "abalo" and "aval" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ɐ.ˈba.lu/ versus /ɐ.ˈvaɫ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "abalo" or "aval"?
"aval" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #16,685 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

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 "aval" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #23,208 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "abalo" and "aval" 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 #23,208 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