achvsarmWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#48,212
“ach” frequency rank
#27,355
“arm” frequency rank
75567
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ach arm
Definition oh pobre

Letter map: ach vs arm

Shared letters muted; letters that set ach and arm apart highlighted. Shared run: 1. ach and arm follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

3 ch
ach
3 ch
arm

Grammar separator: ach vs arm

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: ach is anintj and armanadjective. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 75567, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ach is recorded at frequency rank #48,212, classified as anintj. arm is at rank #27,355, tagged as anadj, pronounced /aʁm/ ouvir^(fonte ?).

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 75567, this pair ranks #2,274 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of ach vs arm

Shared letters: a. Private to "ach": ch. Private to "arm": mr.

"ach" · 3 letters · shape VCC  ·  "arm" · 3 letters · shape VCC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "ach" for "arm" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ach" is an intj and "arm" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "ach" or "arm"?
"arm" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #27,355 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.

What to do next

You've compared "ach" and "arm". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "ach" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "arm" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #2,274 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ach" and "arm" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ach vs acs". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #2,274 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