ann vs ao, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“ann” is an adverb and “ao” is a contraction - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#8,848
“ann” frequency rank: #27
“ao” frequency rank: 8875
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	ann	ao
Definition	aí	contração da preposição a com o artigo definido o

Letter map: ann vs ao

Shared letters muted; letters that set ann and ao apart highlighted. Shared run: 1.

3 ch

ann

2 ch

Grammar separator: ann vs ao

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: ann is anadverb and aoacontraction. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 8875, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ann is recorded at frequency rank #8,848, classified as anadv. ao is at rank #27, tagged as acontraction, pronounced /aw/.

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 8875, this pair ranks #64,748 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of ann vs ao

Shared letters: a. Private to "ann": n. Private to "ao": o.

"ann" · 3 letters · shape VCC · "ao" · 2 letters · shape VV

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "ann" and "ao" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ann" is an adverb and "ao" a contraction, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Frequency check: "ann" vs "ao" - which ranks higher?

"ao" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #27 in our Portuguese list, against #8,848 for "ann". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "ann" and "ao".

Full dictionary entry for "ann" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "ao" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #64,748 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"ann" and "ao" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "acs vs ann". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #64,748 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.