ama vs ao, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“ama” is a noun and “ao” is a contraction - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#1,454
“ama” frequency rank: #27
“ao” frequency rank: 1481
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	ama	ao
Definition	mulher que amamenta filho alheio	contração da preposição a com o artigo definido o

Where the eye mixes ama and ao

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

3 ch

ama

2 ch

Look-alike desk: ama vs ao

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ama is /ˈɐ.mɐ/ while ao is /aw/. 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 (noun vs contraction), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 1481, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ama is recorded at frequency rank #1,454, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈɐ.mɐ/. ao is at rank #27, tagged as acontraction, pronounced /aw/.

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 1481, this pair ranks #74,082 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of ama vs ao

Shared letters: a. Private to "ama": m. Private to "ao": o.

"ama" · 3 letters · shape VCV · "ao" · 2 letters · shape VV

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "ama" and "ao" mean the same thing in a sentence?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ama" is a noun and "ao" a contraction, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Frequency check: "ama" vs "ao" - which ranks higher?

"ao" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #27 in our Portuguese list, against #1,454 for "ama". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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 "ama" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "ao" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #74,082 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"ama" and "ao" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "acs vs ama". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #74,082 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.