adesãovsadiçãoConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#6,364
“adesão” frequency rank
#8,565
“adição” frequency rank
14929
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature adesão adição
Definition ato, processo ou efeito de aderir ato ou efeito de adir

Where the eye mixes adesão and adição

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. adesão and adição follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCVCVV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
adesão
6 ch
adição

Why the eye confuses adesão with adição

A purely visual mix-up. adesão (/ɐ.dɨ.ˈzɐ̃w̃/) and adição (/ɐ.di.ˈsɐ̃w̃/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14929, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

adesão is recorded at frequency rank #6,364, classified as anoun, pronounced /ɐ.dɨ.ˈzɐ̃w̃/. adição is at rank #8,565, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ɐ.di.ˈsɐ̃w̃/.

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 14929, this pair ranks #57,035 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of adesão vs adição

Shared letters: adoã. Private to "adesão": es. Private to "adição": .

"adesão" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVV  ·  "adição" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "adesão" and "adição" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ɐ.dɨ.ˈzɐ̃w̃/ versus /ɐ.di.ˈsɐ̃w̃/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "adesão" vs "adição" - which ranks higher?
"adesão" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,364 in our Portuguese list, against #8,565 for "adição". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "adesão" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "adição" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #57,035 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "adesão" and "adição" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "abdução vs adição". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #57,035 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