Which to use
“abril” is a noun and “abrir” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #561
- “abril” frequency rank
- #1,038
- “abrir” frequency rank
- 1599
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | abril | abrir |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | quarto mês do ano civil | levar de um estado fechado para um aberto, descerrar |
Where the eye mixes abril and abrir
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. abril and abrir follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between abril and abrir
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: abril is /aˈbɾiw/ [aˈbɾiʊ̯] while abrir is /ɐ.ˈbɾiɾ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - l in “abril” becomes r in “abrir”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 1599, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
abril is recorded at frequency rank #561, classified as anoun, pronounced /aˈbɾiw/ [aˈbɾiʊ̯]. 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 1599, this pair ranks #73,941 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of abril vs abrir
Shared letters: abir. Private to "abril": l. Private to "abrir": -.
"abril" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC · "abrir" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "abril" for "abrir" ever safe?
Which is more common, "abril" or "abrir"?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "abril" 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 #73,941 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "abril" and "abrir" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "abrir vs arar". 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 #73,941 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.