adotarvsalocarTell them apart

Which to use

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

#6,258
“adotar” frequency rank
#37,621
“alocar” frequency rank
43879
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature adotar alocar
Definition assumir para si a responsabilidade jurídica de criar (criança ou adolescente): destinar algo a um fim específico, utilizar

Where the eye mixes adotar and alocar

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
adotar
6 ch
alocar

Visual trap between adotar and alocar

A purely visual mix-up. adotar (/ɐ.dɔ.ˈtaɾ/, /ɐ.dɔ.ˈta/) and alocar (/ɐ.lu.ˈkaɾ/) 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 43879, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

adotar is recorded at frequency rank #6,258, classified as averb, pronounced /ɐ.dɔ.ˈtaɾ/, /ɐ.dɔ.ˈta/. alocar is at rank #37,621, tagged as averb, pronounced /ɐ.lu.ˈkaɾ/.

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 43879, this pair ranks #21,693 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of adotar vs alocar

Shared letters: aor. Private to "adotar": dt. Private to "alocar": cl.

"adotar" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVC  ·  "alocar" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • adotaraddotar · adoatr · adotarr · adotra · adottar · adtoar · aodtar · daotar
  • alocaralcoar · allocar · aloacr · alocarr · aloccar · alocra · aolcar · laocar

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "adotar" and "alocar" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ɐ.dɔ.ˈtaɾ/, /ɐ.dɔ.ˈta/ versus /ɐ.lu.ˈkaɾ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "adotar" or "alocar"?
"adotar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,258 in our Portuguese list, against #37,621 for "alocar". 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 "adotar" and "alocar" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "adotar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "alocar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #21,693 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "adotar" and "alocar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "alocar vs aplacar". 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 #21,693 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