Which to use
“abraço” and “abrigo” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #3,952
- “abraço” frequency rank
- #3,873
- “abrigo” frequency rank
- 7825
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | abraço | abrigo |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | gesto de afeto no qual uma pessoa contorna com seus braços a outra pessoa, animal, objeto, etc., como forma de manifestar carinho, amizade, apoio, conforto, etc. | lugar seguro; ambiente que proporciona proteção, segurança |
Where the eye mixes abraço and abrigo
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. abraço and abrigo follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses abraço with abrigo
A purely visual mix-up. abraço (/aˈbɾa.su/) and abrigo (/ɐ.ˈbɾi.ɡu/) 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 7825, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
abraço is recorded at frequency rank #3,952, classified as anoun, pronounced /aˈbɾa.su/. abrigo is at rank #3,873, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ɐ.ˈbɾi.ɡu/.
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 7825, this pair ranks #66,203 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of abraço vs abrigo
Shared letters: abor. Private to "abraço": ç. Private to "abrigo": gi.
"abraço" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV · "abrigo" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- abrigo ← abbrigo · abirgo · abrgio · abriggo · abriog · abrrigo · arbigo · barigo
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "abraço" for "abrigo" ever safe?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "abraço" or "abrigo" show up more?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "abraço" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "abrigo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #66,203 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "abraço" and "abrigo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "abrigado vs abrigo". 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 #66,203 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.