abo vs apo, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“abo” is a noun and “apo” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#39,944
“abo” frequency rank: #45,685
“apo” frequency rank: 85629
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	abo	apo
Definition	aborígene, nativo australiano	atar, juntar, ligar.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set abo and apo apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

3 ch

abo

3 ch

apo

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: abo is /ˈæb.əʉ/ while apo is /ˈa.poː/.. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - b in “abo” becomes p in “apo”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 85629, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

abo is recorded at frequency rank #39,944, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈæb.əʉ/. apo is at rank #45,685, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈa.poː/..

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 85629, this pair ranks #670 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of abo vs apo

Shared letters: ao. Private to "abo": b. Private to "apo": p.

"abo" · 3 letters · shape VCV · "apo" · 3 letters · shape VCV

Frequency comparison

abo#39,944

apo#45,685

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "abo" and "apo" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "abo" is a noun and "apo" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "abo" or "apo"?

"abo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #39,944 in our Portuguese list, against #45,685 for "apo". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering abo vs apo

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “abo”; for a verb, it's “apo”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “abo” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable