adiarvsalçarTell them apart

Which to use

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

#13,651
“adiar” frequency rank
#43,259
“alçar” frequency rank
56910
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature adiar alçar
Definition deixar para outra data o que se tem para fazer colocar mais alto, altear, erguer

Where the eye mixes adiar and alçar

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. adiar (VCVVC) and alçar (VCCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

5 ch
adiar
5 ch
alçar

Why the eye confuses adiar with alçar

A purely visual mix-up. adiar (/ɐ.ˈdjaɾ/) and alçar (/aɫ.ˈsaɾ/) 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 56910, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

adiar is recorded at frequency rank #13,651, classified as averb, pronounced /ɐ.ˈdjaɾ/. alçar is at rank #43,259, tagged as averb, pronounced /aɫ.ˈsaɾ/.

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 56910, this pair ranks #9,659 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of adiar vs alçar

Shared letters: ar. Private to "adiar": di. Private to "alçar": lç.

"adiar" · 5 letters · shape VCVVC  ·  "alçar" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • adiar ← adair · addiar · adiarr · adira · aidar · daiar

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "adiar" and "alçar" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ɐ.ˈdjaɾ/ versus /aɫ.ˈsaɾ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "adiar" or "alçar"?
"adiar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,651 in our Portuguese list, against #43,259 for "alçar". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "adiar" and "alçar" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "adiar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "alçar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #9,659 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "adiar" and "alçar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "alçar vs alce". 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 #9,659 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