abrivsabrirTell them apart

Which to use

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

#6,362
“abri” frequency rank
#1,038
“abrir” frequency rank
7400
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature abri abrir
Definition primeira pessoa do singular do pretérito perfeito do indicativo do verbo abrir levar de um estado fechado para um aberto, descerrar

Where the eye mixes abri and abrir

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. abri runs 4 letters (VCCV) against abrir's 5 (VCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
abri
5 ch
abrir

Visual trap between abri and abrir

A purely visual mix-up. abri (/ɐ.ˈbɾi/) and abrir (/ɐ.ˈbɾiɾ/) 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 extra letter(s) - “abri” sits inside “abrir”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 7400, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

abri is recorded at frequency rank #6,362, classified as averb, pronounced /ɐ.ˈbɾi/. abrir is at rank #1,038, tagged as averb, pronounced /ɐ.ˈbɾiɾ/.

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 7400, this pair ranks #66,737 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of abri vs abrir

Shared letters: abir. Private to "abri": -. Private to "abrir": -.

"abri" · 4 letters · shape VCCV  ·  "abrir" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • abri ← abbri · abir · arbi · bari
  • abrir ← abbrir · abirr · abrirr · abrri · abrrir · arbir · barir

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "abri" and "abrir" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ɐ.ˈbɾi/ versus /ɐ.ˈbɾiɾ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "abri" or "abrir"?
"abrir" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,038 in our Portuguese list, against #6,362 for "abri". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "abri" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "abrir" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #66,737 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "abri" and "abrir" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "abri vs andi". 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 #66,737 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