ak vs are, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#15,974
“ak” frequency rank: #4,038
“are” frequency rank: 20012
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	ak	are
Definition	irmão (que não é o primogênito)	unidade de medida de área equivalente a 100 metros quadrados

Where the eye mixes ak and are

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

2 ch

3 ch

are

Visual trap between ak and are

A purely visual mix-up. ak (/ák̚/) and are (/ˈa.ɾe/) 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 20012, 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/. are is at rank #4,038, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈa.ɾe/.

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 20012, this pair ranks #50,605 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of ak vs are

Shared letters: a. Private to "ak": k. Private to "are": er.

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

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "ak" for "are" ever safe?

No. They are said differently (/ák̚/ versus /ˈa.ɾe/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.

Which is more common, "ak" or "are"?

"are" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,038 in our Portuguese list, against #15,974 for "ak". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

Full dictionary entry for "ak" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "are" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #50,605 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"ak" and "are" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "acs vs ak". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #50,605 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.