Which to use
“ago” is an adverb and “am” is an article - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #9,434
- “ago” frequency rank
- #2,705
- “am” frequency rank
- 12139
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ago | am |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | há, atrás – adj | o / a usado com substantivos masculinos no caso nominativo singular quando a palavra começar com as letra b, f, m, p |
Letter map: ago vs am
Shared letters muted; letters that set ago and am apart highlighted. Shared run: 1.
Part-of-speech tell for ago / am
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: ago is anadverb and amanarticle. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12139, 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/. am is at rank #2,705, tagged as anarticle.
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 12139, this pair ranks #60,537 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of ago vs am
Shared letters: a. Private to "ago": go. Private to "am": m.
"ago" · 3 letters · shape VCV · "am" · 2 letters · shape VC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "ago" for "am" ever safe?
Which is more common, "ago" or "am"?
After this comparison
You've compared "ago" and "am". Here's where to go from here.
- Full dictionary entry for "ago" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "am" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #60,537 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ago" and "am" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "acs vs ago". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #60,537 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.