amivsapoConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#13,434
“ami” frequency rank
#45,685
“apo” frequency rank
59119
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ami apo
Definition amar, gostar de atar, juntar, ligar.

Where the eye mixes ami and apo

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence. ami and apo follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

3 ch
ami
3 ch
apo

Why the eye confuses ami with apo

A purely visual mix-up. ami (/ˈa.mi/) and apo (/ˈa.poː/.) 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 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 59119, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ami is recorded at frequency rank #13,434, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈa.mi/. 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 59119, this pair ranks #8,358 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of ami vs apo

Shared letters: a. Private to "ami": im. Private to "apo": op.

"ami" · 3 letters · shape VCV  ·  "apo" · 3 letters · shape VCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "ami" for "apo" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ˈa.mi/ versus /ˈa.poː/.) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "ami" vs "apo" - which ranks higher?
"ami" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,434 in our Portuguese list, against #45,685 for "apo". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "ami" and "apo" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "ami" 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 #8,358 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ami" and "apo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "acs vs apo". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #8,358 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