agovsaiaWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: ago is a adverb, aia is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“ago” is an adverb and “aia” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#9,434
“ago” frequency rank
#39,961
“aia” frequency rank
49395
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ago aia
Definition há, atrás – adj criada para companhia

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set ago and aia apart are highlighted. They share 1 letter in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

3 ch
ago
3 ch
aia

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ago is /əˈɡəʊ/ while aia is /ˈaj.ɐ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adverb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49395, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ago is recorded at frequency rank #9,434, classified as anadv, pronounced /əˈɡəʊ/. aia is at rank #39,961, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈaj.ɐ/.

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 49395, this pair ranks #15,620 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of ago vs aia

Shared letters: a. Private to "ago": go. Private to "aia": i.

"ago" · 3 letters · shape VCV  ·  "aia" · 3 letters · shape VVV

Frequency comparison

ago#9,434
aia#39,961

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "ago" and "aia" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ago" is an adverb and "aia" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "ago" or "aia"?
"ago" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,434 in our Portuguese list, against #39,961 for "aia". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering ago vs aia

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adverb, it's “ago”; for a noun, it's “aia”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “ago” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list