alcançadovsalcançarTell them apart

Quick tell: alcançado is a adjective, alcançar is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#7,724
“alcançado” frequency rank
#2,214
“alcançar” frequency rank
9938
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature alcançado alcançar
Definition atingido chegar a algum lugar ou ponto

Where the eye mixes alcançado and alcançar

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. alcançado runs 9 letters (VCCVCCVCV) against alcançar's 8 (VCCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
alcançado
8 ch
alcançar

Why the eye confuses alcançado with alcançar

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: alcançado is /aw.kã.ˈsa.dʊ/ while alcançar is /aɫ.kɐ̃.ˈsaɾ/. 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 9938, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

alcançado is recorded at frequency rank #7,724, classified as anadj, pronounced /aw.kã.ˈsa.dʊ/. alcançar is at rank #2,214, tagged as averb, pronounced /aɫ.kɐ̃.ˈsaɾ/.

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 9938, this pair ranks #63,330 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of alcançado vs alcançar

Shared letters: aclnç. Private to "alcançado": do. Private to "alcançar": r.

"alcançado" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCCVCV  ·  "alcançar" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "alcançado" for "alcançar" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "alcançado" is an adjective and "alcançar" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "alcançado" or "alcançar" show up more?
"alcançar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,214 in our Portuguese list, against #7,724 for "alcançado". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "alcançado" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "alcançar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #63,330 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "alcançado" and "alcançar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "alavancar vs alcançar". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #63,330 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