alvovsapoConfusable pair

Quick tell: alvo is a adjective, apo is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“alvo” is an adjective and “apo” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#1,380
“alvo” frequency rank
#45,685
“apo” frequency rank
47065
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature alvo apo
Definition de cor branca atar, juntar, ligar.

Where the eye mixes alvo and apo

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. alvo runs 4 letters (VCCV) against apo's 3 (VCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
alvo
3 ch
apo

Look-alike desk: alvo vs apo

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: alvo is /ˈaɫ.vu/ while apo is /ˈa.poː/.. 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 (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47065, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

alvo is recorded at frequency rank #1,380, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈaɫ.vu/. apo is at rank #45,685, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈa.poː/..

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 47065, this pair ranks #18,212 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of alvo vs apo

Shared letters: ao. Private to "alvo": lv. Private to "apo": p.

"alvo" · 4 letters · shape VCCV  ·  "apo" · 3 letters · shape VCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • alvo ← allvo · alov · alvvo · avlo · lavo

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "alvo" and "apo" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "alvo" is an adjective and "apo" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "alvo" vs "apo" - which ranks higher?
"alvo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,380 in our Portuguese list, against #45,685 for "apo". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "alvo" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "apo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #18,212 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "alvo" and "apo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "acs vs apo". 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 #18,212 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