Which to use
“alvará” and “avaria” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #17,689
- “alvará” frequency rank
- #24,865
- “avaria” frequency rank
- 42554
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | alvará | avaria |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | documento emitido por autoridade administrativa ou judiciária que ordena ou permite determinado ato | dano, estrago, prejuízo |
Where the eye mixes alvará and avaria
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. alvará (VCCVCV) and avaria (VCVCVV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Look-alike desk: alvará vs avaria
A purely visual mix-up. alvará (/aɫ.vɐ.ˈɾa/) and avaria (/ɐ.vɐ.ˈɾi.ɐ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 5 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42554, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
alvará is recorded at frequency rank #17,689, classified as anoun, pronounced /aɫ.vɐ.ˈɾa/. avaria is at rank #24,865, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ɐ.vɐ.ˈɾi.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 42554, this pair ranks #23,209 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of alvará vs avaria
Shared letters: arv. Private to "alvará": lá. Private to "avaria": i.
"alvará" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV · "avaria" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- avaria ← aavria · avaira · avarai · avarria · avraia · avvaria · vaaria
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "alvará" for "avaria" ever safe?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "alvará" or "avaria" show up more?
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 "alvará" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "avaria" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #23,209 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "alvará" and "avaria" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "avaria vs avariado". 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 #23,209 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.