abraçovsatraçãoWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#3,952
“abraço” frequency rank
#4,879
“atração” frequency rank
8831
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature abraço atração
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. efeito ou ação de atrair

Where the eye mixes abraço and atração

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. abraço runs 6 letters (VCCVCV) against atração's 7 (VCCVCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
abraço
7 ch
atração

Why the eye confuses abraço with atração

A purely visual mix-up. abraço (/aˈbɾa.su/) and atração (/ɐ.tɾa.ˈsɐ̃w̃/) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 8831, 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/. atração is at rank #4,879, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ɐ.tɾa.ˈsɐ̃w̃/.

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 8831, this pair ranks #64,809 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of abraço vs atração

Shared letters: aorç. Private to "abraço": b. Private to "atração": tã.

"abraço" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV  ·  "atração" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "abraço" for "atração" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/aˈbɾa.su/ versus /ɐ.tɾa.ˈsɐ̃w̃/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "abraço" or "atração"?
"abraço" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,952 in our Portuguese list, against #4,879 for "atração". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "abraço" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "atração" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #64,809 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "abraço" and "atração" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "abraço vs arado". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #64,809 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