achevsaveWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#9,947
“ache” frequency rank
#5,708
“ave” frequency rank
15655
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ache ave
Definition dor, axe animal vertebrado, ovíparo, recoberto de penas, de bico córneo, sem dentes, e cujos membros posteriores servem para marcha, sendo os anteriores transformados em asas

Letter map: ache vs ave

Shared letters muted; letters that set ache and ave apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.

4 ch
ache
3 ch
ave

Pair insight - ache / ave

ache and ave are indexed as a confusable Portuguese pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 15655, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ache is recorded at frequency rank #9,947, classified as anoun, pronounced /eɪk/. ave is at rank #5,708, tagged as anoun.

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 15655, this pair ranks #56,110 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of ache vs ave

Shared letters: ae. Private to "ache": ch. Private to "ave": v.

"ache" · 4 letters · shape VCCV  ·  "ave" · 3 letters · shape VCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • acheacche · aceh · achhe · ahce · cahe

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "ache" for "ave" ever safe?
No. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "ache" or "ave" show up more?
"ave" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,708 in our Portuguese list, against #9,947 for "ache". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "ache" and "ave".

  • Full dictionary entry for "ache" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ave" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #56,110 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ache" and "ave" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ache vs acs". 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 #56,110 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