ajustado vs ajustar, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“ajustado” is an adjective and “ajustar” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#23,188
“ajustado” frequency rank: #12,602
“ajustar” frequency rank: 35790
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	ajustado	ajustar
Definition	justo	fazer pequeno conserto ou ajuste numa peça de vestuário

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set ajustado and ajustar apart are highlighted. They share 6 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

8 ch

ajustado

7 ch

ajustar

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ajustado is /ɐ.ʒuʃ.ˈta.du/ while ajustar is /ɐ.ʒuʃ.ˈtaɾ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 35790, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ajustado is recorded at frequency rank #23,188, classified as anadj, pronounced /ɐ.ʒuʃ.ˈta.du/. ajustar is at rank #12,602, tagged as averb, pronounced /ɐ.ʒuʃ.ˈtaɾ/.

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 35790, this pair ranks #31,189 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of ajustado vs ajustar

Shared letters: ajstu. Private to "ajustado": do. Private to "ajustar": r.

"ajustado" · 8 letters · shape VCVCCVCV · "ajustar" · 7 letters · shape VCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

ajustado ← ajjustado · ajsutado · ajusatdo · ajusstado · ajustaddo · ajustaod · ajustdao · ajusttado
ajustar ← ajjustar · ajsutar · ajusatr · ajusstar · ajustarr · ajustra · ajusttar · ajutsar

Frequency comparison

ajustado#23,188

ajustar#12,602

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "ajustado" and "ajustar" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ajustado" is an adjective and "ajustar" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "ajustado" or "ajustar"?

"ajustar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,602 in our Portuguese list, against #23,188 for "ajustado". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering ajustado vs ajustar

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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