anjovsaroWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#3,055
“anjo” frequency rank
#22,868
“aro” frequency rank
25923
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature anjo aro
Definition segundo a mitologia cristã, criatura celestial puramente espiritual que atua como mensageiro entre Deus e os homens caixilho de madeira para os vãos das portas e janelas

Where the eye mixes anjo and aro

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

4 ch
anjo
3 ch
aro

Look-alike desk: anjo vs aro

A purely visual mix-up. anjo (/ˈɐ̃.ʒu/) and aro (/ˈa.ɾu/) 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 25923, 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/. aro is at rank #22,868, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈa.ɾu/.

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 25923, this pair ranks #43,304 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of anjo vs aro

Shared letters: ao. Private to "anjo": jn. Private to "aro": r.

"anjo" · 4 letters · shape VCCV  ·  "aro" · 3 letters · shape VCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • anjoajno · anjjo · annjo · anoj · najo

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "anjo" for "aro" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ˈɐ̃.ʒu/ versus /ˈa.ɾu/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "anjo" or "aro" show up more?
"anjo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,055 in our Portuguese list, against #22,868 for "aro". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "anjo" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "aro" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #43,304 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "anjo" and "aro" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "acs vs aro". 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 #43,304 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