adorarvsadoravaWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#6,608
“adorar” frequency rank
#9,433
“adorava” frequency rank
16041
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature adorar adorava
Definition amar; gostar muito primeira pessoa do singular do pretérito imperfeito do indicativo do verbo adorar

Where the eye mixes adorar and adorava

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

6 ch
adorar
7 ch
adorava

Why the eye confuses adorar with adorava

A purely visual mix-up. adorar (/ɐ.du.ˈɾaɾ/) and adorava ([a.do.ˈɾa.va]) 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 16041, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

adorar is recorded at frequency rank #6,608, classified as averb, pronounced /ɐ.du.ˈɾaɾ/. adorava is at rank #9,433, tagged as averb, pronounced [a.do.ˈɾa.va].

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 16041, this pair ranks #55,604 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of adorar vs adorava

Shared letters: ador. Private to "adorar": -. Private to "adorava": v.

"adorar" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVC  ·  "adorava" · 7 letters · shape VCVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • adorar ← addorar · adoarr · adorarr · adorra · adorrar · adroar · aodrar · daorar
  • adorava ← addorava · adoarva · adoraav · adoravva · adorrava · adorvaa · adroava · aodrava

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "adorar" and "adorava" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/ɐ.du.ˈɾaɾ/ versus [a.do.ˈɾa.va]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "adorar" or "adorava"?
"adorar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,608 in our Portuguese list, against #9,433 for "adorava". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "adorar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "adorava" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #55,604 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "adorar" and "adorava" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "adorar vs ancorar". 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 #55,604 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