achvsagoTell them apart

Quick tell: ach is a intj, ago is an adverb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“ach” is an intj and “ago” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#48,212
“ach” frequency rank
#9,434
“ago” frequency rank
57646
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ach ago
Definition oh há, atrás – adj

Letter map: ach vs ago

Shared letters muted; letters that set ach and ago apart highlighted. Shared run: 1. ach (VCC) and ago (VCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

3 ch
ach
3 ch
ago

Part-of-speech tell for ach / ago

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: ach is anintj and agoanadverb. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 57646, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ach is recorded at frequency rank #48,212, classified as anintj. ago is at rank #9,434, tagged as anadv, pronounced /əˈɡəʊ/.

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 57646, this pair ranks #9,209 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of ach vs ago

Shared letters: a. Private to "ach": ch. Private to "ago": go.

"ach" · 3 letters · shape VCC  ·  "ago" · 3 letters · shape VCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "ach" and "ago" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ach" is an intj and "ago" an adverb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "ach" or "ago"?
"ago" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,434 in our Portuguese list, against #48,212 for "ach". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "ach" and "ago".

  • Full dictionary entry for "ach" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ago" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #9,209 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ach" and "ago" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ach vs acs". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #9,209 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