Which to use
“act” is a verb and “an” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #9,948
- “act” frequency rank
- #2,817
- “an” frequency rank
- 12765
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | act | an |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | agir | ligado, aceso: |
Letter map: act vs an
Shared letters muted; letters that set act and an apart highlighted. Shared run: 1.
Role in the sentence - act and an
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: act is averb and ananadverb. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12765, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
act is recorded at frequency rank #9,948, classified as averb. an is at rank #2,817, tagged as anadv, pronounced /an/.
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 12765, this pair ranks #59,723 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of act vs an
Shared letters: a. Private to "act": ct. Private to "an": n.
"act" · 3 letters · shape VCC · "an" · 2 letters · shape VC
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "act" and "an" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "act" or "an"?
After this comparison
Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "act" and "an".
- Full dictionary entry for "act" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "an" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #59,723 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "act" and "an" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "acs vs act". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #59,723 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.