adultovsavulsoTell them apart

Which to use

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

#3,656
“adulto” frequency rank
#47,747
“avulso” frequency rank
51403
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature adulto avulso
Definition diz-se do ser vivo que atingiu a maturidade do desenvolvimento fisiológico, intelectual e/ou emocional (no caso do ser humano, em torno dos vinte anos de idade) que não faz parte de um conjunto

Where the eye mixes adulto and avulso

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. adulto and avulso follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCVCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
adulto
6 ch
avulso

Why the eye confuses adulto with avulso

A purely visual mix-up. adulto (/a.ˈduw.tu/ ouvir ^(fonte ?)) and avulso (/ɐ.ˈvuɫ.su/) 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 51403, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

adulto is recorded at frequency rank #3,656, classified as anadj, pronounced /a.ˈduw.tu/ ouvir ^(fonte ?). avulso is at rank #47,747, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ɐ.ˈvuɫ.su/.

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 51403, this pair ranks #13,637 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of adulto vs avulso

Shared letters: alou. Private to "adulto": dt. Private to "avulso": sv.

"adulto" · 6 letters · shape VCVCCV  ·  "avulso" · 6 letters · shape VCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • adulto ← addulto · adluto · adullto · adulot · adultto · adutlo · audlto · daulto
  • avulso ← auvlso · avluso · avullso · avulos · avulsso · avuslo · avvulso · vaulso

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "adulto" and "avulso" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/a.ˈduw.tu/ ouvir ^(fonte ?) versus /ɐ.ˈvuɫ.su/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "adulto" vs "avulso" - which ranks higher?
"adulto" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,656 in our Portuguese list, against #47,747 for "avulso". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "adulto" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "avulso" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #13,637 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "adulto" and "avulso" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "also vs avulso". 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 #13,637 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