aliarvsampliarTell them apart

Which to use

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

#20,190
“aliar” frequency rank
#6,834
“ampliar” frequency rank
27024
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature aliar ampliar
Definition fazer ligação de tornar maior, aumentar

Where the eye mixes aliar and ampliar

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. aliar runs 5 letters (VCVVC) against ampliar's 7 (VCCCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
aliar
7 ch
ampliar

Why the eye confuses aliar with ampliar

A purely visual mix-up. aliar (/ɐ.ˈljaɾ/) and ampliar (/ɐ̃.pli.ˈaɾ/) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 27024, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

aliar is recorded at frequency rank #20,190, classified as averb, pronounced /ɐ.ˈljaɾ/. ampliar is at rank #6,834, tagged as averb, pronounced /ɐ̃.pli.ˈaɾ/.

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 27024, this pair ranks #42,018 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of aliar vs ampliar

Shared letters: ailr. Private to "aliar": -. Private to "ampliar": mp.

"aliar" · 5 letters · shape VCVVC  ·  "ampliar" · 7 letters · shape VCCCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • aliar ← ailar · alair · aliarr · alira · alliar · laiar
  • ampliar ← amlpiar · ammpliar · ampilar · amplair · ampliarr · amplira · amplliar · amppliar

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "aliar" for "ampliar" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ɐ.ˈljaɾ/ versus /ɐ̃.pli.ˈaɾ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "aliar" vs "ampliar" - which ranks higher?
"ampliar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,834 in our Portuguese list, against #20,190 for "aliar". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "aliar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ampliar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #42,018 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "aliar" and "ampliar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "aliar vs atar". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #42,018 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