abordarvsacordarTell them apart

Which to use

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

#7,994
“abordar” frequency rank
#3,117
“acordar” frequency rank
11111
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature abordar acordar
Definition dar detalhes sobre determinado assunto deixar o estado de sono

Where the eye mixes abordar and acordar

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. abordar and acordar follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

7 ch
abordar
7 ch
acordar

Why the eye confuses abordar with acordar

A purely visual mix-up. abordar (/ɐ.buɾ.ˈdaɾ/) and acordar (/ɐ.kuɾ.ˈdaɾ/) 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 a single letter - b in “abordar” becomes c in “acordar”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 11111, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

abordar is recorded at frequency rank #7,994, classified as averb, pronounced /ɐ.buɾ.ˈdaɾ/. acordar is at rank #3,117, tagged as averb, pronounced /ɐ.kuɾ.ˈdaɾ/.

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 11111, this pair ranks #61,806 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of abordar vs acordar

Shared letters: ador. Private to "abordar": b. Private to "acordar": c.

"abordar" · 7 letters · shape VCVCCVC  ·  "acordar" · 7 letters · shape VCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • abordar ← abbordar · abodrar · aboradr · abordarr · aborddar · abordra · aborrdar · abrodar
  • acordar ← accordar · acodrar · acoradr · acordarr · acorddar · acordra · acorrdar · acrodar

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "abordar" and "acordar" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/ɐ.buɾ.ˈdaɾ/ versus /ɐ.kuɾ.ˈdaɾ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "abordar" or "acordar"?
"acordar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,117 in our Portuguese list, against #7,994 for "abordar". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "abordar" and "acordar" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "abordar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "acordar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #61,806 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "abordar" and "acordar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "abarcar vs abordar". 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 #61,806 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