amavsavalTell them apart

Which to use

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

#1,454
“ama” frequency rank
#16,685
“aval” frequency rank
18139
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ama aval
Definition mulher que amamenta filho alheio garantia de pagamento de um determinado título de crédito

Where the eye mixes ama and aval

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

3 ch
ama
4 ch
aval

Look-alike desk: ama vs aval

A purely visual mix-up. ama (/ˈɐ.mɐ/) and aval (/ɐ.ˈvaɫ/) 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 18139, 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/. aval is at rank #16,685, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ɐ.ˈvaɫ/.

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 18139, this pair ranks #52,919 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of ama vs aval

Shared letters: a. Private to "ama": m. Private to "aval": lv.

"ama" · 3 letters · shape VCV  ·  "aval" · 4 letters · shape VCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • avalaavl · avall · avval

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "ama" and "aval" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈɐ.mɐ/ versus /ɐ.ˈvaɫ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "ama" or "aval"?
"ama" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,454 in our Portuguese list, against #16,685 for "aval". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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 "ama" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "aval" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #52,919 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ama" and "aval" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "atar vs aval". 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 #52,919 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