Which to use
“agora” is an adverb and “ara” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #70
- “agora” frequency rank
- #21,083
- “ara” frequency rank
- 21153
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | agora | ara |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | neste instante, neste momento | altar |
Where the eye mixes agora and ara
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. agora runs 5 letters (VCVCV) against ara's 3 (VCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses agora with ara
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: agora is / a.ˈgɔ.ɾə/ while ara is /ˈa.ɾɐ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adverb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 21153, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
agora is recorded at frequency rank #70, classified as anadv, pronounced / a.ˈgɔ.ɾə/. ara is at rank #21,083, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈa.ɾɐ/.
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 21153, this pair ranks #49,194 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of agora vs ara
Shared letters: ar. Private to "agora": go. Private to "ara": -.
"agora" · 5 letters · shape VCVCV · "ara" · 3 letters · shape VCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- agora ← aggora · agoar · agorra · agroa · aogra · gaora
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "agora" for "ara" ever safe?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "agora" or "ara" show up more?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "agora" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "ara" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #49,194 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "agora" and "ara" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "acs vs ara". 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 #49,194 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.