acabadovsacabarWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: acabado is a adjective, acabar is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“acabado” is an adjective and “acabar” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#5,157
“acabado” frequency rank
#841
“acabar” frequency rank
5998
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature acabado acabar
Definition concluído, pronto levar ao seu termo (levar a termo), perfazer, terminar, concluir

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set acabado and acabar apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch
acabado
6 ch
acabar

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: acabado is anadjective and acabaraverb. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 5998, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

acabado is recorded at frequency rank #5,157, classified as anadj. acabar is at rank #841, tagged as averb.

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 5998, this pair ranks #68,539 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of acabado vs acabar

Shared letters: abc. Private to "acabado": do. Private to "acabar": r.

"acabado" · 7 letters · shape VCVCVCV  ·  "acabar" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • acabadoaacbado · acaabdo · acabaddo · acabaod · acabbado · acabdao · acbaado · accabado
  • acabaraacbar · acaabr · acabarr · acabbar · acabra · acbaar · accabar · caabar

Frequency comparison

acabado#5,157
acabar#841

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "acabado" and "acabar" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "acabado" is an adjective and "acabar" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "acabado" or "acabar"?
"acabar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #841 in our Portuguese list, against #5,157 for "acabado". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering acabado vs acabar

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “acabado”; for a verb, it's “acabar”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “acabado” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list