alisarvsaliviarWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#41,330
“alisar” frequency rank
#9,136
“aliviar” frequency rank
50466
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature alisar aliviar
Definition tornar liso aliviar

Where the eye mixes alisar and aliviar

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. alisar runs 6 letters (VCVCVC) against aliviar's 7 (VCVCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
alisar
7 ch
aliviar

Why the eye confuses alisar with aliviar

A purely visual mix-up. alisar (/ɐ.li.ˈzaɾ/) and aliviar (/ɐ.lɨ.ˈvjaɾ/) 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 50466, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

alisar is recorded at frequency rank #41,330, classified as averb, pronounced /ɐ.li.ˈzaɾ/. aliviar is at rank #9,136, tagged as averb, pronounced /ɐ.lɨ.ˈvjaɾ/.

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 50466, this pair ranks #14,496 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of alisar vs aliviar

Shared letters: ailr. Private to "alisar": s. Private to "aliviar": v.

"alisar" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVC  ·  "aliviar" · 7 letters · shape VCVCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • alisar ← ailsar · aliasr · alisarr · alisra · alissar · allisar · alsiar · laisar
  • aliviar ← ailviar · aliivar · alivair · aliviarr · alivira · alivviar · alliviar · alviiar

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "alisar" for "aliviar" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ɐ.li.ˈzaɾ/ versus /ɐ.lɨ.ˈvjaɾ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "alisar" or "aliviar" show up more?
"aliviar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,136 in our Portuguese list, against #41,330 for "alisar". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "alisar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "aliviar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #14,496 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "alisar" and "aliviar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "alçar vs alisar". 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 #14,496 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