agovsavTell them apart

Quick tell: ago is a adverb, av is an abbrev, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#9,434
“ago” frequency rank
#5,821
“av” frequency rank
15255
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ago av
Definition há, atrás – adj audiovisuel ("audiovisual"):

Letter map: ago vs av

Shared letters muted; letters that set ago and av apart highlighted. Shared run: 1.

3 ch
ago
2 ch
av

Role in the sentence - ago and av

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: ago is anadverb and avanabbrev. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 15255, 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/. av is at rank #5,821, tagged as anabbrev.

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 15255, this pair ranks #56,621 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of ago vs av

Shared letters: a. Private to "ago": go. Private to "av": v.

"ago" · 3 letters · shape VCV  ·  "av" · 2 letters · shape VC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "ago" and "av" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ago" is an adverb and "av" an abbrev, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "ago" or "av" show up more?
"av" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,821 in our Portuguese list, against #9,434 for "ago". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pair "ago" vs "av" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "ago" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "av" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #56,621 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ago" and "av" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "acs vs ago". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #56,621 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