Which to use
“alienação” and “alimentação” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #14,068
- “alienação” frequency rank
- #3,449
- “alimentação” frequency rank
- 17517
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | alienação | alimentação |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | ato ou efeito de alienar(-se) | ato ou efeito de alimentar |
Where the eye mixes alienação and alimentação
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence. alienação runs 9 letters (VCVVCVCVV) against alimentação's 11 (VCVCVCCVCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses alienação with alimentação
A purely visual mix-up. alienação (/ɐ.lje.nɐ.ˈsɐ̃w̃/) and alimentação (/ɐ.li.mẽ.tɐ.ˈsɐ̃w̃/) 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 17517, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
alienação is recorded at frequency rank #14,068, classified as anoun, pronounced /ɐ.lje.nɐ.ˈsɐ̃w̃/. alimentação is at rank #3,449, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ɐ.li.mẽ.tɐ.ˈsɐ̃w̃/.
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 17517, this pair ranks #53,715 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of alienação vs alimentação
Shared letters: aeilnoãç. Private to "alienação": -. Private to "alimentação": mt.
"alienação" · 9 letters · shape VCVVCVCVV · "alimentação" · 11 letters · shape VCVCVCCVCVV
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "alienação" and "alimentação" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "alienação" or "alimentação"?
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 "alienação" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "alimentação" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #53,715 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "alienação" and "alimentação" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "afinação vs alienação". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #53,715 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.