aldeiavsareiaWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: aldeia is a noun, areia is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“aldeia” is a noun and “areia” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#2,300
“aldeia” frequency rank
#2,988
“areia” frequency rank
5288
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature aldeia areia
Definition pequena povoação rústica sem jurisdição própria que tem cor de areia

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set aldeia and areia apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
aldeia
5 ch
areia

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: aldeia is /aɫ.ˈdɐj.ɐ/ while areia is /ɐ.ˈɾɐj.ɐ/. 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 (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 5288, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

aldeia is recorded at frequency rank #2,300, classified as anoun, pronounced /aɫ.ˈdɐj.ɐ/. areia is at rank #2,988, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ɐ.ˈɾɐj.ɐ/.

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 5288, this pair ranks #69,358 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of aldeia vs areia

Shared letters: aei. Private to "aldeia": dl. Private to "areia": r.

"aldeia" · 6 letters · shape VCCVVV  ·  "areia" · 5 letters · shape VCVVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • aldeiaadleia · alddeia · aldeai · aldiea · aledia · alldeia · ladeia
  • areiaaeria · areai · ariea · arreia · raeia

Frequency comparison

aldeia#2,300
areia#2,988

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "aldeia" and "areia" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "aldeia" is a noun and "areia" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "aldeia" or "areia"?
"aldeia" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,300 in our Portuguese list, against #2,988 for "areia". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering aldeia vs areia

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list