abortarvsacertarWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#20,175
“abortar” frequency rank
#5,590
“acertar” frequency rank
25765
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature abortar acertar
Definition produzir antes do tempo pôr acerto em

Where the eye mixes abortar and acertar

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

7 ch
abortar
7 ch
acertar

Look-alike desk: abortar vs acertar

A purely visual mix-up. abortar (/ɐ.buɾ.ˈtaɾ/) and acertar (/ɐ.sɨɾ.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 25765, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

abortar is recorded at frequency rank #20,175, classified as averb, pronounced /ɐ.buɾ.ˈtaɾ/. acertar is at rank #5,590, tagged as averb, pronounced /ɐ.sɨɾ.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 25765, this pair ranks #43,485 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of abortar vs acertar

Shared letters: art. Private to "abortar": bo. Private to "acertar": ce.

"abortar" · 7 letters · shape VCVCCVC  ·  "acertar" · 7 letters · shape VCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • abortar ← abbortar · aboratr · aborrtar · abortarr · abortra · aborttar · abotrar · abrotar
  • acertar ← accertar · aceratr · acerrtar · acertarr · acertra · acerttar · acetrar · acretar

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "abortar" and "acertar" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/ɐ.buɾ.ˈtaɾ/ versus /ɐ.sɨɾ.ˈtaɾ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "abortar" or "acertar"?
"acertar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,590 in our Portuguese list, against #20,175 for "abortar". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "abortar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "acertar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #43,485 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "abortar" and "acertar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "abarcar vs abortar". 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 #43,485 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