anjovsânusTell them apart

Which to use

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

#3,055
“anjo” frequency rank
#20,478
“ânus” frequency rank
23533
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature anjo ânus
Definition segundo a mitologia cristã, criatura celestial puramente espiritual que atua como mensageiro entre Deus e os homens orifício na extremidade final do intestino grosso, por onde são expelidos os excrementos

Where the eye mixes anjo and ânus

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

4 ch
anjo
4 ch
ânus

Look-alike desk: anjo vs ânus

A purely visual mix-up. anjo (/ˈɐ̃.ʒu/) and ânus (/ˈɐ.nuʃ/) 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 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 23533, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

anjo is recorded at frequency rank #3,055, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈɐ̃.ʒu/. ânus is at rank #20,478, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈɐ.nuʃ/.

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 23533, this pair ranks #46,282 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of anjo vs ânus

Shared letters: n. Private to "anjo": ajo. Private to "ânus": suâ.

"anjo" · 4 letters · shape VCCV  ·  "ânus" · 4 letters · shape VCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • anjoajno · anjjo · annjo · anoj · najo

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "anjo" and "ânus" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈɐ̃.ʒu/ versus /ˈɐ.nuʃ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "anjo" or "ânus" show up more?
"anjo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,055 in our Portuguese list, against #20,478 for "ânus". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "anjo" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ânus" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #46,282 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "anjo" and "ânus" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "acs vs ânus". 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 #46,282 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