afogarvsalugarTell them apart

Which to use

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

#15,247
“afogar” frequency rank
#9,951
“alugar” frequency rank
25198
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature afogar alugar
Definition matar alguém por afogamento, asfixia ou estrangulamento dar de aluguel

Where the eye mixes afogar and alugar

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

6 ch
afogar
6 ch
alugar

Why the eye confuses afogar with alugar

A purely visual mix-up. afogar (/ɐ.fu.ˈɡaɾ/) and alugar (/ɐ.lu.ˈɡaɾ/) 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 25198, 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/. alugar is at rank #9,951, tagged as averb, pronounced /ɐ.lu.ˈɡaɾ/.

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 25198, this pair ranks #44,172 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of afogar vs alugar

Shared letters: agr. Private to "afogar": fo. Private to "alugar": lu.

"afogar" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVC  ·  "alugar" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • afogaraffogar · afgoar · afoagr · afogarr · afoggar · afogra · aofgar · faogar
  • alugaralguar · allugar · aluagr · alugarr · aluggar · alugra · aulgar · laugar

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "afogar" and "alugar" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/ɐ.fu.ˈɡaɾ/ versus /ɐ.lu.ˈɡaɾ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "afogar" vs "alugar" - which ranks higher?
"alugar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,951 in our Portuguese list, against #15,247 for "afogar". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "afogar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "alugar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #44,172 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "afogar" and "alugar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "afogar 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 #44,172 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