adotarvsarrotarWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#6,258
“adotar” frequency rank
#49,303
“arrotar” frequency rank
55561
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature adotar arrotar
Definition assumir para si a responsabilidade jurídica de criar (criança ou adolescente): dar arroto; expelir pela boca gases provenientes do estômago:

Where the eye mixes adotar and arrotar

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

6 ch
adotar
7 ch
arrotar

Look-alike desk: adotar vs arrotar

A purely visual mix-up. adotar (/ɐ.dɔ.ˈtaɾ/, /ɐ.dɔ.ˈta/) and arrotar (/ɐ.Ru.ˈtaɾ/) 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 55561, 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/. arrotar is at rank #49,303, tagged as averb, pronounced /ɐ.Ru.ˈtaɾ/.

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 55561, this pair ranks #10,518 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of adotar vs arrotar

Shared letters: aort. Private to "adotar": d. Private to "arrotar": -.

"adotar" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVC  ·  "arrotar" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • adotar ← addotar · adoatr · adotarr · adotra · adottar · adtoar · aodtar · daotar
  • arrotar ← arortar · arotar · arroatr · arrotarr · arrotra · arrottar · arrtoar · rarotar

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "adotar" and "arrotar" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/ɐ.dɔ.ˈtaɾ/, /ɐ.dɔ.ˈta/ versus /ɐ.Ru.ˈtaɾ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "adotar" or "arrotar" show up more?
"adotar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,258 in our Portuguese list, against #49,303 for "arrotar". 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 "adotar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "arrotar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #10,518 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "adotar" and "arrotar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "arroba vs arrotar". 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 #10,518 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