aipovsapitoConfusable pair

Which to use

“aipo” and “apito” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#44,191
“aipo” frequency rank
#14,770
“apito” frequency rank
58961
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature aipo apito
Definition planta herbácea odorífena da família das Umbelíferas cultivada para fins culinários; seu nome científico é Apium graveolens instrumento feito em madeira, metal, plástico ou outro material que produz som ao ser assoprado, e usado com diversos fins como alarme, instrumento musical, sinalização, caça, etc.

Where the eye mixes aipo and apito

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. aipo runs 4 letters (VVCV) against apito's 5 (VCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
aipo
5 ch
apito

Why the eye confuses aipo with apito

A purely visual mix-up. aipo (/ˈaj.pu/) and apito (/aˈpi.tu/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 58961, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

aipo is recorded at frequency rank #44,191, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈaj.pu/. apito is at rank #14,770, tagged as anoun, pronounced /aˈpi.tu/.

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 58961, this pair ranks #8,453 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of aipo vs apito

Shared letters: aiop. Private to "aipo": -. Private to "apito": t.

"aipo" · 4 letters · shape VVCV  ·  "apito" · 5 letters · shape VCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • aipo ← aiop · aippo · apio · iapo
  • apito ← aipto · apiot · apitto · appito · aptio · paito

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "aipo" for "apito" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ˈaj.pu/ versus /aˈpi.tu/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "aipo" or "apito"?
"apito" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,770 in our Portuguese list, against #44,191 for "aipo". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "aipo" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "apito" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #8,453 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "aipo" and "apito" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "aipo vs apo". 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 #8,453 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