abrigovsartigoWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#3,873
“abrigo” frequency rank
#683
“artigo” frequency rank
4556
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature abrigo artigo
Definition lugar seguro; ambiente que proporciona proteção, segurança palavra que precede os substantivos para os determinar

Where the eye mixes abrigo and artigo

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

6 ch
abrigo
6 ch
artigo

Why the eye confuses abrigo with artigo

A purely visual mix-up. abrigo (/ɐ.ˈbɾi.ɡu/) and artigo (/ɐɾ.ˈti.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 4556, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

abrigo is recorded at frequency rank #3,873, classified as anoun, pronounced /ɐ.ˈbɾi.ɡu/. artigo is at rank #683, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ɐɾ.ˈti.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 4556, this pair ranks #70,312 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of abrigo vs artigo

Shared letters: agior. Private to "abrigo": b. Private to "artigo": t.

"abrigo" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV  ·  "artigo" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • abrigo ← abbrigo · abirgo · abrgio · abriggo · abriog · abrrigo · arbigo · barigo
  • artigo ← aritgo · arrtigo · artgio · artiggo · artiog · arttigo · atrigo · ratigo

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "abrigo" for "artigo" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ɐ.ˈbɾi.ɡu/ versus /ɐɾ.ˈti.ɡu/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "abrigo" or "artigo" show up more?
"artigo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #683 in our Portuguese list, against #3,873 for "abrigo". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "abrigo" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "artigo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #70,312 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "abrigo" and "artigo" 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 #70,312 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