Which to use
“afã” and “água” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #47,702
- “afã” frequency rank
- #254
- “água” frequency rank
- 47956
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | afã | água |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | azáfama; ânsia; lida: | substância (H₂O) líquida e incolor, insípida e inodora, essencial para a vida da maior parte dos organismos vivos e excelente solvente para muitas outras substâncias; óxido de hidrogênio |
Where the eye mixes afã and água
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence. afã runs 3 letters (VCV) against água's 4 (VCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses afã with água
A purely visual mix-up. afã (/ɐ.ˈfɐ̃/) and água (/ˈa.gwɐ/) 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 47956, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
afã is recorded at frequency rank #47,702, classified as anoun, pronounced /ɐ.ˈfɐ̃/. água is at rank #254, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈa.gwɐ/.
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 47956, this pair ranks #17,265 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of afã vs água
Shared letters: a. Private to "afã": fã. Private to "água": guá.
"afã" · 3 letters · shape VCV · "água" · 4 letters · shape VCVV
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "afã" for "água" ever safe?
Frequency check: "afã" vs "água" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "afã" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "água" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #17,265 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "afã" and "água" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "acs vs afã". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #17,265 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.