abandona vs abandonar, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#11,199
“abandona” frequency rank: #3,871
“abandonar” frequency rank: 15070
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	abandona	abandonar
Definition	terceira pessoa do singular do presente do indicativo do verbo abandonar	deixar ao abandono

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set abandona and abandonar apart are highlighted. They share 8 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

8 ch

abandona

9 ch

abandonar

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. abandona (/ɐ.bãⁿ.ˈdo.nɐ/) and abandonar (/ɐ.bɐ̃.du.ˈnaɾ/) 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 extra letter(s) - “abandona” sits inside “abandonar”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 15070, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

abandona is recorded at frequency rank #11,199, classified as averb, pronounced /ɐ.bãⁿ.ˈdo.nɐ/. abandonar is at rank #3,871, tagged as averb, pronounced /ɐ.bɐ̃.du.ˈnaɾ/.

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 15070, this pair ranks #56,860 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of abandona vs abandonar

Shared letters: abdno. Private to "abandona": -. Private to "abandonar": r.

"abandona" · 8 letters · shape VCVCCVCV · "abandonar" · 9 letters · shape VCVCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

abandona ← aabndona · abadnona · abanddona · abandnoa · abandoan · abandonna · abanndona · abanodna
abandonar ← aabndonar · abadnonar · abanddonar · abandnoar · abandoanr · abandonarr · abandonnar · abandonra

Frequency comparison

abandona#11,199

abandonar#3,871

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "abandona" and "abandonar" be used interchangeably?

No. They are said differently (/ɐ.bãⁿ.ˈdo.nɐ/ versus /ɐ.bɐ̃.du.ˈnaɾ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.

Which is more common, "abandona" or "abandonar"?

"abandonar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,871 in our Portuguese list, against #11,199 for "abandona". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering abandona vs abandonar

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “abandona” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable