adulteração vs alteração, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#37,613
“adulteração” frequency rank: #5,594
“alteração” frequency rank: 43207
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	adulteração	alteração
Definition	ato ou efeito de adulterar; falsificação	o fato de alterar; modificação

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set adulteração and alteração apart are highlighted. They share 9 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

11 ch

adulteração

9 ch

alteração

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. adulteração (/a.duw.te.ɾa.ˈsɐ̃w/) and alteração (/aɫ.tɨ.ɾɐ.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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43207, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

adulteração is recorded at frequency rank #37,613, classified as anoun, pronounced /a.duw.te.ɾa.ˈsɐ̃w/. alteração is at rank #5,594, tagged as anoun, pronounced /aɫ.tɨ.ɾɐ.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 43207, this pair ranks #22,460 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of adulteração vs alteração

Shared letters: aelortãç. Private to "adulteração": du. Private to "alteração": -.

"adulteração" · 11 letters · shape VCVCCVCVCVV · "alteração" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCVCVV

Frequency comparison

adulteração#37,613

alteração#5,594

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "adulteração" and "alteração" be used interchangeably?

No. They are said differently (/a.duw.te.ɾa.ˈsɐ̃w/ versus /aɫ.tɨ.ɾɐ.ˈsɐ̃w̃/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.

Which is more common, "adulteração" or "alteração"?

"alteração" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,594 in our Portuguese list, against #37,613 for "adulteração". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering adulteração vs alteração

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “adulteração” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable