akvsamaConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#15,974
“ak” frequency rank
#1,454
“ama” frequency rank
17428
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ak ama
Definition irmão (que não é o primogênito) mulher que amamenta filho alheio

Where the eye mixes ak and ama

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

2 ch
ak
3 ch
ama

Look-alike desk: ak vs ama

A purely visual mix-up. ak (/ák̚/) and ama (/ˈɐ.mɐ/) 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 17428, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ak is recorded at frequency rank #15,974, classified as anoun, pronounced /ák̚/. ama is at rank #1,454, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈɐ.mɐ/.

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 17428, this pair ranks #53,826 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of ak vs ama

Shared letters: a. Private to "ak": k. Private to "ama": m.

"ak" · 2 letters · shape VC  ·  "ama" · 3 letters · shape VCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "ak" for "ama" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ák̚/ versus /ˈɐ.mɐ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "ak" or "ama" show up more?
"ama" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,454 in our Portuguese list, against #15,974 for "ak". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "ak" and "ama" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "ak" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ama" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #53,826 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ak" and "ama" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "acs vs ak". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #53,826 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