amavsauraWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#1,454
“ama” frequency rank
#13,887
“aura” frequency rank
15341
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ama aura
Definition mulher que amamenta filho alheio vento brando e suave; aragem

Where the eye mixes ama and aura

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

3 ch
ama
4 ch
aura

Look-alike desk: ama vs aura

A purely visual mix-up. ama (/ˈɐ.mɐ/) and aura (/ˈaw.ɾɐ/) 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 15341, 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/. aura is at rank #13,887, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈaw.ɾɐ/.

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 15341, this pair ranks #56,496 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of ama vs aura

Shared letters: a. Private to "ama": m. Private to "aura": ru.

"ama" · 3 letters · shape VCV  ·  "aura" · 4 letters · shape VVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • auraarua · auar · aurra · uara

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "ama" and "aura" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈɐ.mɐ/ versus /ˈaw.ɾɐ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "ama" vs "aura" - which ranks higher?
"ama" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,454 in our Portuguese list, against #13,887 for "aura". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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 "aura" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #56,496 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ama" and "aura" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "audaz vs aura". 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 #56,496 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