abóbadavsabóboraWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#44,179
“abóbada” frequency rank
#16,207
“abóbora” frequency rank
60386
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature abóbada abóbora
Definition todo o teto côncavo; cobertura encurvada, cuja forma é obtida pela rotação de um arco em torno de um eixo vertical fruto gerada pela aboboreira

Where the eye mixes abóbada and abóbora

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

7 ch
abóbada
7 ch
abóbora

Why the eye confuses abóbada with abóbora

A purely visual mix-up. abóbada (/ɐ.ˈbɔ.bɐ.dɐ/) and abóbora (/ɐ.ˈbɔ.bu.ɾɐ/) 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 60386, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

abóbada is recorded at frequency rank #44,179, classified as anoun, pronounced /ɐ.ˈbɔ.bɐ.dɐ/. abóbora is at rank #16,207, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ɐ.ˈbɔ.bu.ɾɐ/.

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 60386, this pair ranks #7,681 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of abóbada vs abóbora

Shared letters: abó. Private to "abóbada": d. Private to "abóbora": or.

"abóbada" · 7 letters · shape VCVCVCV  ·  "abóbora" · 7 letters · shape VCVCVCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "abóbada" and "abóbora" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/ɐ.ˈbɔ.bɐ.dɐ/ versus /ɐ.ˈbɔ.bu.ɾɐ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "abóbada" or "abóbora"?
"abóbora" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #16,207 in our Portuguese list, against #44,179 for "abóbada". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "abóbada" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "abóbora" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #7,681 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics

Confusion rank #7,681 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