abarcarvsabortarWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#43,732
“abarcar” frequency rank
#20,175
“abortar” frequency rank
63907
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature abarcar abortar
Definition abranger produzir antes do tempo

Where the eye mixes abarcar and abortar

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. abarcar and abortar follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

7 ch
abarcar
7 ch
abortar

Why the eye confuses abarcar with abortar

A purely visual mix-up. abarcar (/ɐ.bɐɾ.ˈkaɾ/) and abortar (/ɐ.buɾ.ˈtaɾ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 63907, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

abarcar is recorded at frequency rank #43,732, classified as averb, pronounced /ɐ.bɐɾ.ˈkaɾ/. abortar is at rank #20,175, tagged as averb, pronounced /ɐ.buɾ.ˈtaɾ/.

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 63907, this pair ranks #5,996 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of abarcar vs abortar

Shared letters: abr. Private to "abarcar": c. Private to "abortar": ot.

"abarcar" · 7 letters · shape VCVCCVC  ·  "abortar" · 7 letters · shape VCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • abarcar ← aabrcar · abacrar · abaracr · abarcarr · abarccar · abarcra · abarrcar · abbarcar
  • abortar ← abbortar · aboratr · aborrtar · abortarr · abortra · aborttar · abotrar · abrotar

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "abarcar" and "abortar" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/ɐ.bɐɾ.ˈkaɾ/ versus /ɐ.buɾ.ˈtaɾ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "abarcar" vs "abortar" - which ranks higher?
"abortar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #20,175 in our Portuguese list, against #43,732 for "abarcar". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "abarcar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "abortar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #5,996 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "abarcar" and "abortar" 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 #5,996 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