açãovsadoçãoWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: ação is a intj, adoção is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“ação” is an intj and “adoção” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#594
“ação” frequency rank
#5,487
“adoção” frequency rank
6081
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ação adoção
Definition expressa a grupo de participantes envolvidos em uma interpretação e sua gravação, que dêem início à sua atividade coordenada e conjuntamente ação ou resultado de adotar, de aceitar (alguém ou algo)

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set ação and adoção apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
ação
6 ch
adoção

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ação is /ɐ.ˈsɐ̃u̯ while adoção is /a.doˈsɐ̃w̃/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (intj vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 6081, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ação is recorded at frequency rank #594, classified as anintj, pronounced /ɐ.ˈsɐ̃u̯. adoção is at rank #5,487, tagged as anoun, pronounced /a.doˈsɐ̃w̃/.

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 6081, this pair ranks #68,415 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of ação vs adoção

Shared letters: aoãç. Private to "ação": -. Private to "adoção": d.

"ação" · 4 letters · shape VCVV  ·  "adoção" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVV

Frequency comparison

ação#594
adoção#5,487

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "ação" and "adoção" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ação" is an intj and "adoção" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "ação" or "adoção"?
"ação" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #594 in our Portuguese list, against #5,487 for "adoção". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering ação vs adoção

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an intj, it's “ação”; for a noun, it's “adoção”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “ação” 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