ágilvsaliTell them apart

Quick tell: ágil is a adjective, ali is an adverb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“ágil” is an adjective and “ali” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#17,177
“ágil” frequency rank
#593
“ali” frequency rank
17770
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ágil ali
Definition ligeiro, pronto, veloz naquele lugar

Where the eye mixes ágil and ali

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

4 ch
ágil
3 ch
ali

Look-alike desk: ágil vs ali

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ágil is /ˈa.ʒiɫ/ while ali is /ɐ.ˈli/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 17770, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ágil is recorded at frequency rank #17,177, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈa.ʒiɫ/. ali is at rank #593, tagged as anadv, pronounced /ɐ.ˈli/.

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 17770, this pair ranks #53,387 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of ágil vs ali

Shared letters: il. Private to "ágil": . Private to "ali": a.

"ágil" · 4 letters · shape VCVC  ·  "ali" · 3 letters · shape VCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "ágil" and "ali" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ágil" is an adjective and "ali" an adverb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "ágil" vs "ali" - which ranks higher?
"ali" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #593 in our Portuguese list, against #17,177 for "ágil". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "ágil" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ali" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #53,387 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ágil" and "ali" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "acid vs ágil". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #53,387 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