abrilvsavrilConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#561
“abril” frequency rank
#20,209
“avril” frequency rank
20770
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature abril avril
Definition quarto mês do ano civil abril

Where the eye mixes abril and avril

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. abril and avril follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

5 ch
abril
5 ch
avril

Visual trap between abril and avril

A purely visual mix-up. abril (/aˈbɾiw/ [aˈbɾiʊ̯]) and avril (/avʁil/) 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 a single letter - b in “abril” becomes v in “avril”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 20770, 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]. avril is at rank #20,209, tagged as anoun, pronounced /avʁil/.

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 20770, this pair ranks #49,659 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of abril vs avril

Shared letters: ailr. Private to "abril": b. Private to "avril": v.

"abril" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC  ·  "avril" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • abril ← abbril · abirl · abrill · abrli · abrril · arbil · baril
  • avril ← arvil · avirl · avrill · avrli · avrril · avvril · varil

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "abril" for "avril" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/aˈbɾiw/ [aˈbɾiʊ̯] versus /avʁil/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "abril" vs "avril" - which ranks higher?
"abril" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #561 in our Portuguese list, against #20,209 for "avril". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

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 "avril" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #49,659 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "abril" and "avril" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "átrio vs avril". 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 #49,659 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