adiçãovsafeiçãoConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#8,565
“adição” frequency rank
#24,213
“afeição” frequency rank
32778
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature adição afeição
Definition ato ou efeito de adir ato ou efeito de afeiçoar; ternura; afecto; amizade; amor:

Where the eye mixes adição and afeição

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

6 ch
adição
7 ch
afeição

Look-alike desk: adição vs afeição

A purely visual mix-up. adição (/ɐ.di.ˈsɐ̃w̃/) and afeição (/ɐ.fɐj.ˈsɐ̃w̃/) 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 32778, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

adição is recorded at frequency rank #8,565, classified as anoun, pronounced /ɐ.di.ˈsɐ̃w̃/. afeição is at rank #24,213, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ɐ.fɐj.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 32778, this pair ranks #34,920 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of adição vs afeição

Shared letters: aioãç. Private to "adição": d. Private to "afeição": ef.

"adição" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVV  ·  "afeição" · 7 letters · shape VCVVCVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "adição" for "afeição" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ɐ.di.ˈsɐ̃w̃/ versus /ɐ.fɐj.ˈsɐ̃w̃/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "adição" or "afeição" show up more?
"adição" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,565 in our Portuguese list, against #24,213 for "afeição". 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 "adição" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "afeição" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #34,920 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "adição" and "afeição" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "afegão vs afeição". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #34,920 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