Which to use
“afastar” and “alistar” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #3,955
- “afastar” frequency rank
- #29,214
- “alistar” frequency rank
- 33169
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | afastar | alistar |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | transitivo: | pôr em lista |
Where the eye mixes afastar and alistar
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. afastar and alistar follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses afastar with alistar
A purely visual mix-up. afastar (/ɐ.fɐʃ.ˈtaɾ/) and alistar (/ɐ.liʃ.ˈtaɾ/) 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 33169, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
afastar is recorded at frequency rank #3,955, classified as averb, pronounced /ɐ.fɐʃ.ˈtaɾ/. alistar is at rank #29,214, tagged as averb, pronounced /ɐ.liʃ.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 33169, this pair ranks #34,421 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of afastar vs alistar
Shared letters: arst. Private to "afastar": f. Private to "alistar": il.
"afastar" · 7 letters · shape VCVCCVC · "alistar" · 7 letters · shape VCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "afastar" and "alistar" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "afastar" or "alistar" show up more?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "afastar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "alistar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #34,421 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "afastar" and "alistar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "alastrar vs alistar". 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 #34,421 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.