afogarvsalojarTell them apart

Which to use

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

#15,247
“afogar” frequency rank
#42,764
“alojar” frequency rank
58011
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature afogar alojar
Definition matar alguém por afogamento, asfixia ou estrangulamento enlojar

Where the eye mixes afogar and alojar

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
afogar
6 ch
alojar

Visual trap between afogar and alojar

A purely visual mix-up. afogar (/ɐ.fu.ˈɡaɾ/) and alojar (/ɐ.lu.ˈʒaɾ/) 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 58011, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

afogar is recorded at frequency rank #15,247, classified as averb, pronounced /ɐ.fu.ˈɡaɾ/. alojar is at rank #42,764, tagged as averb, pronounced /ɐ.lu.ˈʒaɾ/.

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 58011, this pair ranks #8,984 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of afogar vs alojar

Shared letters: aor. Private to "afogar": fg. Private to "alojar": jl.

"afogar" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVC  ·  "alojar" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • afogaraffogar · afgoar · afoagr · afogarr · afoggar · afogra · aofgar · faogar
  • alojaraljoar · allojar · aloajr · alojarr · alojjar · alojra · aoljar · laojar

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "afogar" for "alojar" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ɐ.fu.ˈɡaɾ/ versus /ɐ.lu.ˈʒaɾ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "afogar" or "alojar" show up more?
"afogar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,247 in our Portuguese list, against #42,764 for "alojar". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "afogar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "alojar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #8,984 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "afogar" and "alojar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "alçar vs alojar". 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 #8,984 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