acusarvsajustarConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#10,117
“acusar” frequency rank
#12,602
“ajustar” frequency rank
22719
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature acusar ajustar
Definition culpar, incriminar fazer pequeno conserto ou ajuste numa peça de vestuário

Where the eye mixes acusar and ajustar

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. acusar runs 6 letters (VCVCVC) against ajustar's 7 (VCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
acusar
7 ch
ajustar

Why the eye confuses acusar with ajustar

A purely visual mix-up. acusar (/ɐ.ku.ˈzaɾ/) and ajustar (/ɐ.ʒuʃ.ˈtaɾ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 22719, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

acusar is recorded at frequency rank #10,117, classified as averb, pronounced /ɐ.ku.ˈzaɾ/. ajustar is at rank #12,602, tagged as averb, pronounced /ɐ.ʒuʃ.ˈtaɾ/.

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 22719, this pair ranks #47,268 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of acusar vs ajustar

Shared letters: arsu. Private to "acusar": c. Private to "ajustar": jt.

"acusar" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVC  ·  "ajustar" · 7 letters · shape VCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • acusar ← accusar · acsuar · acuasr · acusarr · acusra · acussar · aucsar
  • ajustar ← ajjustar · ajsutar · ajusatr · ajusstar · ajustarr · ajustra · ajusttar · ajutsar

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "acusar" and "ajustar" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ɐ.ku.ˈzaɾ/ versus /ɐ.ʒuʃ.ˈtaɾ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "acusar" or "ajustar" show up more?
"acusar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,117 in our Portuguese list, against #12,602 for "ajustar". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "acusar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ajustar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #47,268 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "acusar" and "ajustar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ajustar vs atestar". 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 #47,268 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